Responsible Adults
by SoulOfAFangirl684
Summary: None of this would have happened if it hadn't been my supposed "guardian angel's" first day on the job. But it was time to move on from my botched reincarnation. Maybe I didn't have much to offer, in the grand scheme of things, but sometimes even small acts can make a difference. (Yet another OC story.)
1. Prologue

**It's done. I've done it. I've finally bought into this Reincarnated OC phase that's taken over the Naruto fandom. (Seriously, where did this come from? I feel like one day, we just had regular OC stories and the next every single OC wasn't just an interdimensional traveler, they were all living out a second life in the Narutoverse.) **

**It doesn't usually bother me when I write a story where the basis is a little overdone, but I **_**was**_** kind of trying to stay away from this trope while it's so popular. Alas, this happened, and though only the prologue is complete, I'm having a lot of fun writing in my OC's voice. So on with the story!**

**Prologue**

Looking back, I take full responsibility for this whole mess. I'd certainly had enough warning as to what the powers of positive thinking could do. Or, in my case, the powers of blind thinking.

But the idea of reincarnation gets implanted in a person's head, and then it just festers there. One day you accept that you can't really comprehend how the universe works, so yeah, sure, it could be possible. And before you know it, you start _actually_ believing.

And that's when you're really in trouble.

**…**

When I was in kindergarten—just this tiny five-year-old thing—there was this playground bully named Bobby Mollins. He never really bothered me, which was a damn miracle, because Bobby's favorite targets were all the smallest kids, and like I said, I was tiny.

Anyway, Bobby spent his recesses terrorizing all the people he figured wouldn't tattle on him. But one day, he decided to go after this kid named Corey Dunn. Corey wasn't a pushover, just kinda quiet. So when Bobby shoved him, Corey shouted some sort of threat or warning back. Before this, Bobby had always come across as kind of untouchable. To see someone stand up to him just about disintegrated our little kindergarten minds. Naturally, the majority of the class was drawn to the oncoming power struggle.

The thing is, nobody knew that Bobby was actually terminally sick. We all gathered around, but before Bobby could say anything back, his lungs collapsed. And he went down, choking and struggling to breathe. And then he _died_. Like, for real.

No one even panicked at first. I remember the whole thing being really quiet. No one knew how to react. We all just froze. It wasn't until a teacher came over to investigate the crowd and saw us all standing around Bobby's body that everything got kinda hysterical.

It sounds pretty fucked up now, I know.

I was hardly Bobby's biggest fan, but watching him die like that haunted me. I lay awake for nights on end wondering what it would be like to spend your last moments like that.

And then, ten years later, I found out.

**Review please! **

**I don't own Naruto. Only the OCs. **

**I don't think this should get too dark, but I can tell you right now this is rated for language. The next chapter might be disproportionately long, but that's because I'm going to try to get the majority of the backstory out of the way in chapter one. **


	2. Chapter One

**I really am sorry for the delay, guys. As I mentioned in my author's note for the prologue, chapter one is kind of long, and I had some trouble slogging through writing the beginning. Also, I'm sure it didn't help that I was simultaneously writing the **_**longest one-shot in history**_**. Seriously. Okay, maybe not, but it's definitely the longest one I've ever written. That's also for Naruto, and I plan on putting it up tomorrow, (well, it might technically be later today now) so please, feel free to take a look at that too, if you'd like. Anyway, onto the story!**

**Chapter One**

For the sake of accuracy, Bobby's death and mine weren't _identical_. His problem was with his lungs, and mine was with my heart.

I was born with neonatal lupus. Which sounds like an awfully repetitive sentence to me, but I've gotten so many wide-eyed, 'What does _neonatal_ mean?'s that I've bent to society's general lack of basic medical knowledge.

Anyway, this type of lupus is passed on from the mother… So the best we could figure is that my mother must also have some sort of autoimmune disorder whose symptoms have still, to this day, not shown its face. Now, under normal circumstances, the symptoms of neonatal lupus disappear within a few months of birth. Sounds too easy, doesn't it? Of course, I had to go and complicate things.

To start, I was born without a spleen. Doesn't sound too major, right? Most of you probably don't even know what the spleen _does_.

But I'm trying to keep things simple here. Long story short, it's not absolutely necessary to have one, but not having a spleen generally makes it harder to do things like fight off infection or recover from surgery.

All this is pretty minor. Now we get to the tricky stuff…

Soon after the lupus symptoms went away and my parents thought I was in the clear, I started having other problems. So my baby self was carted off to the hospital yet again… where the doctors diagnosed me with having an atrioventricular block. And things just went downhill from there.

The best course of action would have been to implant a pacemaker. Unfortunately, the doctor in charge, who has always come off as overly cautious to me, vetoed this.

A few of my lifelong problems include irregular heartbeat, bad circulation, and being chronically underweight. Taking all this into consideration, on top of my missing spleen, my doctors decided that my chances of recovering from surgery were less than good. Even if my body reacted well to being cut open and sewn back shut, it was just as likely that I could be done in by an infection while recovering.

After determining that my heart hadn't fully developed while inside the womb, they tried to bring up its efficiency with steroids… which they promptly discovered I was allergic to. Along with half a dozen other medications.

With essentially nothing that could be done for my heart, my prognosis wasn't good. We were basically just waiting for my heart to fail.

Extremely long story short, I was a medical nightmare.

**…**

You know how most little kids think they're invincible? I never had that luxury.

My parents were paranoid, but not without reason. I guess spending fifteen years just waiting for your daughter to die can put a person on edge.

Anyway, they, too, were super cautious. There would be no sports or summer camps for me. It was hard enough to convince them to let me spend a night under constant supervision at a relative's house. After a really bad episode when I was nine, my mother wanted to homeschool me, but that's where I put my foot down.

I could understand and appreciate my parents' mindset, but I was getting the message loud and clear. Who knew how long I had left? I wanted to spend that time actually living.

Of course, my version of _living_ didn't always add up to other people's definitions. My parents were desperate to keep me at home and in a constant state of relaxation. I won't pretend I wasn't spoiled. As a result, I had a pretty hefty collection of movies and books. But I won't pretend we weren't all lying to each other either—for our own peace of mind as much as anyone else's. My heart was just as likely to give out for good when I was sleeping as when I was doing any sort of strenuous exercise.

Maybe it's different when you're worrying about someone else, but when you're the one constantly being hovered over… Let me tell you, it gets old real fast. All my parents were concerned with was keeping me for as long as possible, doing whatever they had to in order to accomplish that. They didn't really understand the concept of quality before quantity.

**…**

Was I a spoiled little brat? Yeah, without a doubt. My parents were so paranoid about what the stress of your average childhood tantrum could do to my health, they never even pretended to put up a fight. Which wasn't a hard accommodation to make when they were already trying to give me everything I could ever want before I even had the chance to want it.

But it's not like I was _totally_ self-absorbed. Especially as I got older, I spent a lot of time thinking about what would happen to my parents after my death. They'd spent so long with my health and happiness being their top—seemingly only—priority, I wasn't sure they even remembered how to live any other way. Whenever I pictured my household post-me, all I saw was the two of them sitting despondently in our darkened house until they eventually wasted away themselves.

I was nine—right after that 'really bad episode' I mentioned—the first time I brought up the subject of a younger sibling. My parents couldn't have been more shocked. I'm pretty sure this was also the first time they'd ever refused me anything I'd asked for.

This reaction was totally foreign to me and beyond frustrating. My parents spent the next few weeks showering me with gifts, assuring me that I was everything they could possibly want. But I was on a mission. I refused to let them appease me.

It is worth mentioning, though, that it was during this time that my dad brought home the first volume of a certain manga series. My dad had always been the best at distracting me. And I've always had a love for stories, particularly the ones with action-packed plots and superhuman protagonists. Predictably, the obsession with _Naruto_ was immediate.

I won't lie. I know what really drew me to his character. I could give or take his sad backstory, encouraging determination, and humorous antics. I found the character himself to be kinda annoying, truth be told. But I practically _lusted_ over his health and stamina. Demon or no, I would have given anything to have my own Nine-Tailed Fox.

Anyway. This distraction may have turned into a long-term love, but it didn't stall me for too long. I got back to work with my parents. Little did I know, my mom and dad could actually muster up a backbone when they wanted to. (God knows where they stored that thing the rest of the time.) This battle would last six more years.

They finally caved seven months ago. Up until then, I'd stubbornly played the lonely only child card—that they're company was great, but I needed another kid around. (Which had actually done wonders for my laughable social life. My parents had tried to compromise by allowing more playdates.) Of course, that excuse had gotten less and less believable as I survived year after year, widening the age gap between myself and my potential sibling. But I hadn't wanted to tell them the truth. They'd always seemed almost unnervingly fragile. But then, seven months ago, when my mother had yet again insisted that they _wanted_ to focus all their attention on me, I'd finally snapped.

"Mom. I'm going to be dead someday. Possibly someday soon. I'm going to be dead, and you and Dad will be all alone. I don't want that. Seriously. Have another kid."

My mother's reaction couldn't have been worse if I'd physically hit her. But it couldn't be a coincidence that she was pregnant a few weeks later.

Right from the start, my parents were paranoid about this baby's health. For all their talk of me being the only thing they'd ever wanted, they sure were terrified about the possibility of their second child turning out like their first one.

But the odds really were in their favor. My mother had been young when they'd had me. And medicine had improved a lot since her first pregnancy. Even if there _was _something wrong with the new baby, they had a much better chance of catching it before it got serious.

But they needn't have worried. My unborn little brother had thus far managed to dodge every bullet that had struck me. The doctors had yet to find anything to suggest he _wouldn't _grow up to be one of the healthiest people this world has ever seen. Hallelujah. Mission accomplished.

**…**

For all my complaints of not being allowed to live my life to the fullest, I've never actually been all that reckless. When you can't even laugh too long or too hard before you're struck by this aching breathlessness, you become painfully aware (no pun intended) of your own limits.

Perhaps this is why I'd always been enticed by other people's adventures. I mean, I wasn't exactly complaining about the free pass out of every gym lesson all my classmates were forced to endure. But I hated having to feel like a total invalid when it wasn't even to the point where I was confined to my bed. So I lost myself in the grand endeavors of others, in fictional worlds.

But this day… This was my one chance at my own little rebellion. Who knew when, if ever, I'd get another chance?

I've always considered myself to be a realist, but I've always had a bit of a romantic side, too. Not the mushy, everyone's true love is out there somewhere kind of romantic. I'm talking about the side of me that's always been enthralled with the concept of life-changing quests and going out into the world to 'find' yourself. It seems like such a small thing, but I'd always wanted to walk home, like an anime character, just once. And now I finally had the opportunity.

My parents had grudgingly agreed to both be present at my mother's most recent appointment. (I was to call them the second I walked through the door.) So I ditched the bus and began heading in the direction of my house.

Like I said, even this wasn't really being _reckless_. We lived just a few streets from the school, and none of it was uphill. It was a nice day—no rain clouds in sight, not even so much as a breeze.

It was a nice feeling, a little thrilling. It felt like I was accomplishing something, childish as that sounds. My little journey went without a hitch… until I reached home, ironically enough.

I was just crossing my front yard when I felt the first twinges of pain in my chest. In a matter of seconds, those little pricks grew into full-blown blows. I tried to suck in air with little success. Black spots appeared in front of me, expanding until all I could see was darkness. A haze settled over my fading consciousness. The pain was still there, but it was dulled—somewhere in the background. But where was that? I couldn't form a coherent thought?

And then, as quickly as it had started, there was nothing.

**…**

I'd had enough close calls in the past fifteen years to know I was dying for real. Not even the most skillful doctor in the world would be able to resuscitate me this time. Which is why I couldn't understand what was happening when I felt myself waking up.

I could feel the cold, soft ground cushioning my face. I was cold all over, which I'd come to associate with being a natural part of almost dying. I didn't hear any of the commotion that usually concluded these episodes. Maybe my parents hadn't even made it home yet. Maybe no one had witnessed my most recent scrape with death but myself and whatever otherworldly, godlike power that had decided it wasn't my time. (Who I'd always imagined to sound quite a bit like Mufasa.)

_You self-centered little fuck-up. No one on this side of things wants to be stuck with you just yet._

I took a breath, finally pushing myself up—Where the hell did my house go?!

I looked around frantically, but all I saw were trees in every direction. I hadn't noticed when I was on the ground, but I was in a forest so thick, there wasn't even a chance of sunlight filtering this far down.

I slowly got to my feet, but I couldn't think of any plausible way I could have gotten to this place. I mean, had I _teleported_ here while unconscious? I couldn't even do that when I was awake! Had someone kidnapped my cold, oxygen-deprived body from my front yard and… what? Brought me out to the middle of a forest just to leave me here? I was in the middle of total wilderness, not chained up in some freak's basement.

The sound of paper rustling made me whirl around, and what I saw made me freeze.

What was this? Was I dead after all? Because I was pretty damn sure we didn't have fairies in the living world. Not real ones, anyway.

The thing looked like a tiny human girl, but not at all thin and graceful like artists tend to depict them. This one looked more like a cherub of sorts, chubby and childlike. It had blue eyes and bright orange hair, pinned up in two buns—one on either side of its head. She (I suppose it really was more of a _she_) held a journalist's notebook in her hands. She was rifling through the pages—the sound that had caught my attention. But that's not where I was focusing now. Her dress was pure white and sort of resembled an old Greek toga. And spreading out from her back were two equally white, disproportionately large wings. Though I'm not sure how exactly _that_ worked. Her wings were still, but she was hovering in the air effortlessly.

"Ah!" she exclaimed, eyes sparkling as she finally looked up. "Found you! Connie Velick."

"Levick," I corrected, not really caring that I had destroyed the proud glow in her eyes. "Why does some pixie have my name in a notebook?"

She pouted indignantly, balling her fat little fingers into fists. "I'm not a_ pixie_! I'm an angel! Your guardian angel, to be exact. You can call me Angie."

I wanted to raise a skeptical eyebrow but felt the breath knocked out of me again before I could. Guardian angel?

"So…" I said softly. "I _did_ die?"

Angie nodded, and I staggered a few feet away and propped myself up against a tree. I was drowning in images of my parents coming home to find my body in the yard. I thought of the little brother I wouldn't get to know. Oh shit! What if Mom went into premature labor at the shock of finding me? I'd wanted to at least make it to my brother's birth for that very reason. Why couldn't I have just died at school or something? At least then my parents would have some sort of authority figure around to soften the blow.

"I'm very sorry for your loss," Angie said, sounding very rehearsed.

It was almost enough to make me laugh. I never thought I'd have to hear that after losing my _own_ life.

"Fifteen years… Not such a bad run, I guess…" I murmured, trying to pull myself together. I took a deep breath and pushed away from the tree. I had to deal with whatever came next right now. I could grieve for my parents later. (What a backwards thought!)

"So is this the afterlife?" I asked Angie. "Do I have to go meet the ruler of this place and have my fate determined or something?"

"No…" Angie seemed nervous all of a sudden, practically hiding behind her notebook. "This is a forest within Konoha…"

I blinked at her. "Uh, what?"

"You know…" she said meekly. "Konohagakure?"

"The land where _Naruto_ takes place?"

"Uh-huh…"

"_What_?"

"W-Well… You wanted to be reincarnated. So that's what I did…" Her voice was getting progressively quieter.

"Is this some kind of joke?"

Angie looked like she was waiting for me to explode, and I didn't disappoint.

"That's… That's… That's total _bullshit_! This isn't how reincarnation _works_! I'm supposed to be _reborn_! With—With no memory of my past life. It's supposed to be a _fresh start_!"

"I _tried_, okay?!" Angie screamed back. "It was my first time! I've never been in charge of my own mortling before!"

"Are you fucking _kidding_ me?!" Angie was on the verge of tears, and I know I was starting to sound hysterical. "Make it right! Goddammit, make it _right_!"

"I can't!"

"I didn't spend my whole life waiting to die just to get fucked over in the afterlife! Fix it!"

Angie was sniffing, looking pitiful and guilty, and I didn't care. How dare she feel sorry for herself? If anyone should be crying, it should have been _me_.

"I can't fix it," she whispered. "I'm sorry."

The worst excuse for a guardian angel in history dissolved into sobs, and I collapsed on the ground.

"So what now?" I demanded, my anger still blatant. "Do we just wait until I die again? Eaten by a wild animal, maybe? Or of exposure out here, in the middle of fucking nowhere?"

Angie sniffed, wiping away her tears. "I think I can fix that."

I wanted to tell her _No thanks; you've done enough already,_ but she was already holding up her hands, which were glowing mystically.

I didn't get a chance to ask her what she was doing before my world went black again.

**Review please!**

**I don't own Naruto. Only my OCs. (I have quite a few of them, I realized…)**

**Thank you **Littlebirdd **and **Uzumaki-Demon **for reviewing the prologue!**


	3. Chapter Two

**This chapter was actually going to end somewhere else, but I figured it had been delayed enough… At least I can say I'm not rushing this story… (Ha ha… Sorry… Awful puns…) Anyway, two chapters and a prologue in and I'm still really just setting up the main idea… Still having fun writing it, though.**

**There's just one note I'd like to leave on the spelling of her name. You'll see it a few times in this chapter, 'Connie' is spelled differently depending on who's speaking to her. (How they envision her name being spelled.) **

**Thank you **Guest, Callian31, **and **Rookie-Cat **for reviewing chapter one! And thank you to everyone who has followed and favorited this story so far!**

**Chapter Two**

Waking up in the hospital was something I was distressingly familiar with. And I'd gotten into the habit of masking my awakening for as long as was reasonably possible. I knew from past experience that as soon as someone—my parents, the hospital staff—saw me stirring, I'd be surrounded by people asking questions and rushing around to check charts and monitors. Those moments were always the worst part of the experience. During that time, everything was too fast, too bright, and too loud.

So I didn't open my eyes and tried to keep my breathing even, listening to all the activity around me. There certainly were a lot of people buzzing around for just one patient—failing heart or not—but they all seemed kind of distant. I figured I was in a private room on a busy floor.

Speaking of… What had brought on this latest visit to the hospital? I couldn't seem to remember what I'd been doing before I collapsed. I tried not to get too frustrated with my memory. Sometimes it took a few minutes.

But when it did start filtering back to me, it left me more confused than I'd been before. I remembered waking up alone in a dark forest, speaking with Angie the cherub-angel about my own botched reincarnation. I was clinging to the only plausible explanation—that it had been a crazy dream brought on by oxygen deprivation. But panic was rising up inside of me. I could now remember dying so _clearly_…

I was vaguely aware that the movement around me had quieted down. Whatever emergency that had been afoot must have been taken care of. I could now hear individual voices drifting my way, discussing something very intently.

"Right." A man's voice, clear and attentive.

The response was softer but undeniably female. I couldn't make out her words yet, but they were moving closer.

"Honestly, I'm surprised you haven't found more. The war left a lot of refugees with nowhere to go. I know many of them have grouped together as bands of nomads or bandits and are still out there today, roaming."

There was something about that voice… I felt like I _should_ recognize the speaker, but it wasn't quite coming to me.

"Sir…" The woman—a nurse?—faltered. "There's something else you should know…"

"What is it?" The two had stopped beside my bed, and I did my best to keep up my sleeping charade, though my mind was racing. What the hell were they talking about? What war?

"There _were_ others. The scouting team that brought her in found her amongst at least two dozen other men, women, and children. They were slaughtered, the entire party. By who or what, no one is sure. Like you said, we assumed they were nomads."

"And this girl was the only survivor?" I could practically hear the man's eyebrows raise. I'd gotten pretty good at interpreting the silent parts of conversations when I couldn't see the people talking. This wasn't the first time I'd listened to a discussion revolving around my own wellbeing while I feigned sleep. Except now I wasn't so sure. They couldn't possibly be talking about me.

"Yes. She was surrounded by bodies and covered in blood, but once we'd cleaned her up, we didn't find a scratch on her. Whoever attacked her group must have overlooked her. It's rare to see that kind of luck. Reminds me that miracles_ can _happen…"

There was silence for one long minute. At last, the man answered, "I'm not sure I'd call it luck… Let me know when she wakes up. We can make further arrangements from there."

"Of course." The woman came closer, hovering over me. I heard her clothing shift and was willing to bet she was pulling out a stethoscope. "Oh, but Lord Hokage—"

The woman gasped when my eyes snapped open. What? No. This was a dream. It _had_ to be. But all facts pointed elsewhere. I stared into her wide, silver-white eyes and only one thought crossed my mind—a Hyuga.

My eyes searched my surroundings frantically, trying to take everything in at once. The nurse saw my panic and moved closer, gently laying a hand on my shoulder. When this apparently didn't have the desired effect, she frowned. The nurse glanced down at her own fingers, which were still probing my shoulder, before our eyes locked.

"How are you feeling?" the man asked, probably to break the tension growing between us. Nurses weren't my favorite people to start with. I didn't like the way this one was scrutinizing me.

I turned my head to finally identify the other voice and had to catch my breath. I took in the kind blue eyes, spiky blond hair, his outfit as a whole… "You're…"

Minato Namikaze smiled gently when I couldn't get the words out. He looked patient and humble. Ironically, it was the nurse who was nearly bursting with pride.

"Yes, the Fourth Hokage is known all over the world for his accomplishments!"

_Not just your world, lady, _I thought to myself, still trying to process all this. Unless I was hallucinating—which I wasn't totally ready to rule out just yet—this meant that the other dream, the one in the forest with Angie, had actually happened. I really was dead. At least… I _had_ been. And now I was in Konoha. That probably should have excited me more than it did.

"You're in a hospital inside the Leaf Village right now," he explained, effectively skipping over any talk of those accomplishments. "Do you remember what happened?"

I hoped my expression looked blank and not even more panicked. Angie hadn't given me any time to prepare a story before she'd worked her magic and knocked me unconscious. What the hell was I supposed to say? I'd worried about surviving out in the wilderness, but being a part of civilization might be more dangerous. I wasn't a great liar, and the truth was likely to get me locked up and interrogated somewhere.

When "Uh…" was the best I could come up with, Minato just smiled again. The nurse, however, seemed to be getting more suspicious by the second. I was going to have to play dumb a little more convincingly.

"All right," Minato tried again. "Amnesia after a trauma isn't so uncommon. It might come back to you if we give it some time. For now, can you remember your name?"

That one seemed safe enough. "I'm Connie."

The nurse scrutinized me again, her straight dark hair falling over her shoulders as she leaned forward. "Really. That's usually a boy's name."

I mentally ran through everything I knew about the Japanese language… which was almost nothing. But as best as I could figure, they were probably picturing 'Connie' spelled something like this—Kani. And there wasn't much I could do about that, so I just shrugged.

"Sometimes parents make some pretty unorthodox decisions when it comes to naming their kids," Minato tried to appease. I glanced up at the Fourth Hokage, starting to get a little suspicious myself. I always knew Minato was nice, but he was starting to seem a little too understanding. The man had a village to take care of. He had to have better things to do than visit random patients in the hospital. Was I already being interrogated and I just hadn't noticed?

A look passed between the two adults that I felt confirmed my suspicions. They hadn't been on the same page a second ago… I could feel the shift almost immediately.

"Well, it was nice to meet you, Kani," Minato said, the conversation over. "Nurse Miyako wants to keep you overnight to make sure nothing unexpected happens, so we'll hold off on making any major decisions about where we go from here until tomorrow."

The Hyuga woman—Miyako—was preparing a bag of something to hook up to my IV line. I hadn't seen her move to go get anything, but that was hardly the weirdest thing about this day. Minato left the room as Miyako hooked up the bag of fluid, but I saw him stop just outside. Waiting for Miyako, I was sure.

There was something else I was suddenly sure of. I glanced up at the liquid that was now dripping into my veins. A sedative. Whatever Miyako had given me was strong. I could already feel myself drifting off.

Which is why I ripped it out the second she was also out of the room. I winced and cradled my arm a little closer to my body, feeling the blood bead up from the tiny puncture wound. I shook my head, powering through the effects of the drug that had already taken root. If Minato and Miyako planned to discuss me, I planned to hear it.

"Lord Hokage," she began. "There's something that's… strange about that girl."

The door had been left ever so slightly ajar. They were both standing out of sight, and Miyako was too short to see through the little window built into the door, but I could see Minato's blond spikes bob as he nodded.

"How so? I noticed that your technique didn't seem to work."

"No…" Miyako sounded a little nervous. "I'm not sure how extensive your medical knowledge is, Sir, but, um… The main idea is, when a person's emotions rise, their chakra spikes with it. Sometimes people call it adrenaline, and of course, the strength and intensity of a person's chakra depends on the extent to which they've developed their chakra network. The healers here all learn how to use their own chakra to manipulate another person's. I, of course, had already had a background in that art. Anyway, the point is… That skill can be used for something as major as healing what would otherwise be a fatal wound or something as small as subduing a patient's chakra ever so slightly, just enough to calm them down."

"I understand," Minato prompted after her long speech. "But?"

"But it didn't work today!" Miyako replied, frustrated. "No matter how much chakra I applied, there was no response. I've never felt anything like it. I'll have to do some more tests, but if I had to guess… I'd say she has no chakra network at all."

"How is that possible?" Minato sounded puzzled. "_All _living things have chakra, whether they can use it or not. Chakra is the world's most basic life force."

_Maybe in _this_ world, _I mused, wondering if this was why Miyako had wanted to keep me overnight and if my anatomical anomalies would cause me any trouble here. Although… To be honest, I felt better than I could ever remember feeling. Granted, I was lying in a hospital bed, but there had been no shortness of breath, and the ever-present ache in my chest had disappeared. I pushed those thoughts aside for now. An idea was forming in my mind… But I didn't want to get my hopes up just yet.

"Let me know what you find," Minato requested. "I'll check in again tomorrow."

"Of course." I deduced that Minato had left and was just about to delve deeper into my thoughts when the nurse poked her head back into the room and I froze.

We stared at each other silently for a few moments before Miyako walked back inside, closing the door behind her. I expected the woman to be frustrated, but she was smiling.

"I should've figured," she said, good-naturedly amused. "You were too quiet before. Usually when we get street kids, they cause a scene. Always so stubborn…"

"Was I a street kid?" I kind of wished I could wipe the challenge from my tone. It was too deeply embedded in me. Everything I said had a defiant edge to it—daring anyone to deny me something or doubt me. As a result, I tended to bring out the worst in people. But Miyako didn't seem to mind. In fact, my ingrained bratty attitude only seemed to reinforce the idea that I was a little wild, hadn't been raised in a civil setting.

"No," she conceded. "We found you outside the village walls. Kani, right?"

"Yeah."

"You got a last name, Kani?"

"No." I was deciding that I liked Nurse Miyako a lot better when she didn't feel pressured to be professional.

"Well, our last introduction could have been better. It's nice to meet you, Kani. My name is Miyako Hyuga. Perhaps you've heard of my family?"

I nodded thickly. For an IV, that drug worked fast… I'd absorbed more of the sedative than I'd accounted for. I hadn't had time to come up with a real story. I would have to stick with vague, technical truths and play this amnesia thing for all it was worth.

"I've heard a lot about this village…"

Miyako nodded, dabbing a cotton swab with antiseptic and carefully cleaning the dried blood from the crook of my arm. "So you've retained some facts, your sense of logic… That's good. What else do you remember?"

"…My parents," I answered carefully. They sounded like a safe enough thing to admit to. "But I don't understand how I got here…"

That was true enough. I still wasn't sure I totally believed I really _was_ here. Miyako didn't seem to suspect anything. She grabbed the IV line again and steadied my arm.

"Well, Kani, the Hokage was right. I wouldn't be surprised if your memory comes back over time, little by little. For now, it's best if you get some sleep. I'll check on you again in the morning."

She hooked me up with the IV line again, and I made no move to stop her. The logical part of my brain was reminding me that I hadn't been awake for very long, but I was so tired… This time, I welcomed the nap.

**…**

When I awoke in Konoha for the third time in my new life, it was to someone's horridly annoying screaming.

"Connie!"

"What?!" I snapped back as my eyes flew open. I shut them again and groaned. Angie was one of the last things I'd wanted to see hovering over my bed before the sun was even in the sky.

"Shhh!" she scolded. Loudly, I might add. "If you bring those pesky nurses running, we won't be able to talk!"

"They're not the pests…" I grumbled. "What do you want?"

Angie huffed indignantly. "This is the thanks I get? I got you out of the forest, didn't I?"

"Angie, I'm really not in the mood…" I hadn't quite shaken off the grogginess yet.

"Wait!" Angie exclaimed, fearing I'd drift off again. "I came with news! I talked to my boss about your… situation."

There were so many snide remarks I could have made right then, but I took the high road. I also chose not to question Angie on the hierarchy of angels, though the idea intrigued me. My life was confusing enough right now without being immersed in the workings of the Great Beyond, and I got the feeling Angie didn't really need to be persuaded to talk.

"And?"

I watched her falter the same way she had in the forest, her excitement over having news to share giving way to the reality that it wasn't _good_ news.

"And… Boss said no redoes… That would be against the laws of nature."

I closed my eyes at that, staying very quiet. I wasn't sure if I was more furious at Angie or myself. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up that Angie would be able to work some kind of miracle. It was her fault I was in this mess, after all.

"Oh! But he _did_ say the rules could be bent a little bit. Due to the… uniqueness of your situation, I'll be able to check in with you personally. Usually, guardian angels are supposed to do their work from afar, but I'm allowed to help you up close! Isn't that great?"

Great. Right. What did I ever do to deserve this? I was starting to get the feeling the other angels just didn't want Angie around any more than I did.

I opened my eyes again when I heard footsteps in the hallway outside.

"I've gotta go for now, but I'll be back later," Angie assured me. "Don't worry, Connie. It'll all work out. I promise!"

Faster than I could have clicked my tongue, she was gone, and a second later, Miyako entered the room. She didn't look to be in any better of a mood than I was.

"Oh, good, you're awake." Her words felt flat, and she moved to unhook the IV line from my arm. I tensed reflexively. Hell hath no fury like a nurse scorned… And it was usually the patients who suffered. If Miyako noticed my apprehension, she didn't comment on it.

"What's going on?"

The woman sighed. "The hospital director just has no people skills, that's all. I swear, she went into the wrong field of work…"

"Oh?" I could hear voices getting closer as Miyako taped a small square of gauze to my arm.

"I don't think she accounted for you being conscious already."

She was right. The two stopped just outside the door, where we could both hear them.

"And you really think it's wise to just let her out into the world?" A woman's voice. She sounded high-strung. The hospital director, no doubt. "We don't know who she really is, where she came from. Do you really believe this amnesia excuse? She could be someone's spy."

"I have considered that, yes." This time I recognized Minato's voice right away. He sounded like he was trying hard to hold on to his patience. "And I believe full-heartedly in being cautious, but the war is over, and I'd like to see this village escape that wartime mindset. That means taking some chances, extending trust. And I'm not saying she should be released with no supervision or guidance. She has nowhere to go."

"And what kind of 'supervision' do you propose? The war left enough orphans. Do you have any idea how many village kids we couldn't find homes for? What chances do you think an outsider would have?"

Miyako and I both stilled, focusing all our attention on eavesdropping. I saw her mouth set in a thin line and could tell she didn't like anyone questioning the Hokage's authority.

"I've thought of that, too. Which is why I talked to Kushina, and we'd be happy to take her in until we can come up with some more permanent living arrangements."

Miyako turned to me with wide eyes. Clearly, I wasn't the only one he'd taken by surprise. I tried to keep my own expression as blank as possible, unsure how to react. Miyako and I turned back to the door as the hospital director found her voice.

"You can't be serious… With your wife in the condition she is—"

"Exactly," Minato interrupted, purposely misinterpreting her words. "Kushina insists on being independent right now, but I'm sure in a few more months, she'll appreciate a little extra help around the house."

So that was the trade-off, then. I would earn my keep my essentially being their maid. There were worse exchanges… And this was certainly better than the possible scenarios I'd been picturing the night before. It was still a little hard to imagine, though.

Not waiting for another argument to pop up, Minato finally opened the door to my room and smiled in at us. "Good morning, Miyako, Kani. It's nice to see you again. I know it's a little early for any life-changing decisions, but there's an idea I'd like to run by you…"

**Review please! (Seriously, thoughts? I'm not totally confident in my writing of Minato or Kushina… But at least I didn't get the chance to mess them both up in one chapter… We'll see how well it goes next time.)**

**I don't own Naruto. **


	4. Chapter Three

**Thank you **_Silimaira_** for reviewing chapter one! And thank you for adding it to a community! **

**I'm still having some inner debates about characterization… *sigh* My OCs I've got down, it's just the canon characters, and I think that shows… This is another chapter I was originally going to end somewhere else… But I changed my mind… As a result, the next chapter may be a little short… But I guess I won't know until I write it. Anyway… onwards!**

**Chapter Three**

The sun was just rising over the treetops when Minato and I arrived at his home. Well, I supposed it was technically my home, too, for the time being. All Minato's talk of 'further arrangements'… He was probably planning to set me up with my own apartment once I was able to find a job. If he lived long enough for that.

There was so much to think about. So many serious problems that _needed_ to be thought about. But I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind. I would deal with real life later. For now, I could only focus on what was right in front of me. Which happened to be Kushina Uzumaki.

She eased the front door open mid-yawn. I was struck breathless once again by seeing a previously fictional character alive and very real.

"Morning," she greeted, barely keeping her eyes open.

"Kushina." I glanced up at Minato and was reminded of why I had adored the Minato/Kushina mini plotline. I've never really been drawn in by tales of romance, but that gentle, loving look he seems to reserve just for her… Gah. It's _cute_. So sue me. "I told you not to get up for us. You need your rest."

"I'm fine." Kushina seemed to be channeling her indignance as a way to fend off her exhaustion. "I'm pregnant, not an invalid, you know!"

"That's not what I meant." The patient exasperation he was directing at her now was another common expression, I was sure.

If I had been in a familiar place, now would have been the time for me to slip away. I'm not really one for 'Couples Arguing'. It's simultaneously sweet and awkward. But I couldn't exactly slip past them when I hadn't officially been invited into their home yet. Luckily, Kushina turned to me before they could get too out of hand.

"So, I take it you're Kani?"

"Yeah." I would have held out my hand, but she'd already moved forward and grabbed it. Her eyes were considerably brighter now. "Nice to meet you."

She didn't even answer before pulling me eagerly through the doorway. I'd forgotten how intense Kushina could be. She never grew out of her childhood energy. The woman led me to what was presumably their spare bedroom and threw her arm out with a flourish.

"Wow," I said, trying to sound appreciative, though I knew the words fell flat. "This is great. Thank you."

Kushina sat down on the bed and smiled at me invitingly. I felt bad for not being able to show more enthusiasm. The room was plain—white walls, mild colors on everything else—but I really did appreciate it. I sat down beside her, and for a long moment, we were silent.

"I really appreciate this, you know," she said at last, beating me to the punch. "You agreeing to stay here."

I couldn't hold back my snort. "You're welcome. I'm sure a complete stranger coming in to take up space in your home and eat your food with no means of ever paying you back is exactly what you've always wanted."

Immediately, I wished I could bite back my words. I was sounding too standoffish again. But Kushina just laughed.

I apologized anyway. "Sorry, it's just… What a crazy thing to thank me for. I owe you guys everything right now. And, um,_ I_ appreciate it. Seriously."

She chuckled again. "Don't worry about it. And it's not like you have _nothing_ to give, you know. I'm looking forward to having some company. Being locked away in here is driving me crazy!"

"What month is it?" I asked not at all subtly. Her pregnancy had been mentioned more than once, but if she was showing yet, it couldn't be seen through her clothes.

She smiled knowingly. "It's the last week of May. I'm due in October. They don't want my pregnancy to be common knowledge, though, so I haven't been out much lately." She stood then, leaving me on the bed. "Biwako comes by tomorrow, so we should be able to go out into the market and get you some more clothes."

I glanced down at myself a little self-consciously. I couldn't really argue with them spending money on me there. The nurses had cleaned up the clothes I'd been wearing when they'd found me, so it wasn't like I was stuck in a hospital gown or anything, but what I _was_ wearing was all I had.

"Thank you," seemed to be the only appropriate response.

Kushina just gave me one of those smiles that reminded me disturbingly of her currently unborn son and left me to settle into my new room in peace. Or so she thought.

"See!" I heard almost immediately after she was out of sight. "I told you it would all work out!"

Angie was back, hovering over by the window. I sighed, and she pouted.

"Why do you always do that when you see me?" she demanded. "I am trying to help, you know!"

In that moment, Angie sounded so much like Kushina that I could only stare. What an odd thought. I wondered if they would get along. Assuming Kushina could even see Angie, that is. Clearly even more offended by my silence, Angie huffed one last time and disappeared, and then I was alone for real.

The next minute was a long one. I moved slowly, skimming a hand over the windowsill, the bureau, until I completed the circle and sat back down on the bed. With nothing to unpack, this was really the extent of what I could do when it came to "settling in."

This was all so insane, and everything was happening so fast. I could hardly comprehend how I'd gotten from the forest to the hospital to this room. I wondered if I would ever be able to process this. And believe I wasn't going insane.

I wasn't sure how long I'd been sitting there, staring into nothingness, before Kushina returned and knocked on the open door. "Minato had to go back to the office for something, but breakfast is ready!" she announced.

I followed her out to a table topped with bowls of rice and smoked fish and other Japanese breakfast things. I took the seat across from her and picked up the chopsticks on my placemat. I twirled the foreign objects around my fingers for a minute. Well, this was going to be an experience.

Kushina let me struggle noticeably until she couldn't contain her snickering any longer. "Sorry," she said at last. "I've never seen anyone hold a pair of chopsticks the way you do. I guess it's understandable, though. Minato said you lived with a band of nomads before today? I doubt you guys could get your hands on a lot of household items on a regular basis."

"I don't really remember," I answered, because that was the safest response.

An almost melancholy look took over Kushina's features. "The village I was born in was destroyed when I was really little. I don't remember that or anything—they got me out early and brought me here, but… I can't help but think that a lot of the other survivors most likely ended up in groups like yours."

We were silent for a moment before Kushina's curiosity got the better of her and she perked up a little. She leaned in, mischievously intense. "Okay, so Minato said you have amnesia… Tell me, how much do you_ really_ remember?"

My stomach jumped a little. It suddenly occurred to me that I would be spending a lot of time alone with Kushina Uzumaki. Pregnant or not, I knew she was frustrated at being taken out of the field. Perhaps I wasn't just being placed here because I had appeared non-threatening and the Hokage's wife was conveniently in need of company. Was I being paranoid?

"Not much," I told her, trying not to make my hedging too obvious. "My name and… little things about my parents. I don't really remember much about how we lived, so your guess is as good as mine."

It was the first outright lie. If anything, the details of my previous life had only increased in clarity as more time passed. Kushina didn't seem to suspect I was a spy. If anything, she appeared to be treating my memory loss like a game. But I knew she could be fiercely loyal. As well as fierce in other areas…

But if she could sense that I wasn't being totally honest with her, I was saved by the woes of motherhood. Naruto's mother paled suddenly and quickly excused herself. A moment later, I heard retching from the next room and breathed a sigh of relief, sick as that may sound. (Safe!) Years spent in and out of a hospital can train a person's stomach to withstand a lot of unpleasant things. I picked my chopsticks back up to resume my struggle.

**…**

Kushina retreated to her room shortly after our breakfast inquisition, and I left her alone. As much as she didn't want to admit it, Minato was right. She did need rest.

I spent the next few hours slowly roaming around their apartment. I was still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I could now lay claim to it also.

The place was small. It was certainly humble for the Hokage's living quarters, but that fit with what I'd learned about Minato. But status aside, it was a perfectly suitable home for a married couple expecting their first child. I didn't see a nursery during my walkthrough. I wondered if they had planned to convert the room I was now staying in into Naruto's room.

It was 1:30—past a reasonable time for lunch in my old household—when my patience finally broke. It wasn't like I expected the woman to get up and cook for me. I could manage well enough for myself. But I figured it was only common courtesy to see if she wanted anything.

I headed down the hallway toward the room she shared with Minato—the only room I hadn't explored. I was only a few feet away when I walked into the knife. At the abrupt sensation of metal against my throat, I backed up… into the rough embrace of someone who wasn't any taller than I was.

"Identify yourself!" he commanded. One arm held me steady, the other kept his kunai positioned at my jugular.

The voice was familiar, but I was a little preoccupied with the threat of my imminent demise. Shock led me to the most logical reaction.

"_Dude_! What are you doing?!"

"Identify yourself and state your purpose," he repeated. His grip tightened, and the knife's presence became even more apparent.

"Stand down." The voice that saved me was quiet but effective. The boy holding me captive released me when he heard Minato, and I quickly stepped out of his reach.

I turned to see a now unarmed teenager in an Anbu mask. I already recognized him by his shock of wild white hair, but Minato confirmed this.

"She's a friend, Kakashi. I'm glad you decided to show yourself, though. The two of you probably should be introduced. This is Kani. We've sort of hired her to keep Kushina company until she has the baby. Kani, this is Kakashi. He's a jonin himself now, but he was a student of mine once upon a time. He's guarding Kushina until she gives birth. I suspect you'll be seeing each other quite a bit."

Minato gave Kakashi a pointed look, and even I could hear the implications in his words. I knew Kakashi did his job from the shadows when it came to his sensei's wife and child. I suspected this was a ploy by Minato to put a little life back into his student. To keep an eye on me, to keep Kushina company, now to drag Kakashi out of his depressed shell… Apparently, Minato had had more reasons for bringing me into his home than I'd realized.

I turned to stare at Kakashi who, I noted, hadn't removed his Anbu mask or spoken a word since Minato's interruption of his guard duties. Clearly he had no intention of getting any closer to me than he had to. I hadn't thought much about where we were in the storyline, but it occurred to me now that, as Naruto hadn't even been born yet, Kakashi was actually a year younger than I was.

I was still considering whether I really wanted to exchange pleasantries with someone so cold and distant when Kakashi made the decision for me. Minato turned to go check on Kushina, and in that second, the boy was gone.

I slowly let out a breath, aware that Kakashi was probably still watching. I chose to push any serious matters to the back of my mind, to be processed later. That seemed to have become my go-to reaction since waking up in the hospital after initially freaking out on Angie. I would have to sort this mental mess out sooner or later. But for right now, I planned to hide behind the guise of "settling in."

**Review please!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**So I know it's a little late… But next chapter will be the one where I finally give a physical description of my OC. (It kind of just didn't feel relevant until then.) This chapter felt a little slow to me. Three chapters and a prologue in and I'm still setting everything up.**


	5. Chapter Four

**So sorry for the delay on this one! I was faced with two major problems… One, school has been kicking my ass. There's no other way to put it. And two… I couldn't stay focused. On the bright side, this means that the next chapter is nearly half-way done already. (I was writing them simultaneously.) So with a little bit of luck, the next update should be pretty soon.**

**Thank you **_Rookie-Cat _**and **_Ducky the Insomniac Panda _**for reviewing chapter three!**

**Chapter Four**

Minato stayed in the apartment for the remainder of the day, and I tried to give the couple their space. This wasn't hard as we all stayed in our respective rooms. I didn't have much to do after eating and taking care of the dishes, but to be honest, I was a little hesitant to do _anything_. My introduction to Kakashi had left me a bit paranoid. Not that I was planning some sort of assassination attempt or anything. It was just a little disconcerting to know he could be watching.

Unfortunately, this meant I was mostly left to lay on my new bed, staring up at the ceiling, contemplating what this new life meant for me.

I didn't feel particularly unwelcome here, but Minato and Kushina also had yet to lay out exactly what was expected of me. I wouldn't sugar coat it. I was prepared to earn my keep, but I'd never been given a chore schedule in my life. And I wasn't exactly a great personality match for general companionship.

The more I thought about it, the more it became clear that Kushina would be watching me, keeping an eye out for anything potentially suspicious. The more I thought about it, the more I began to feel trapped. My new home was a cage disguised as an act of generosity.

Just as I was starting to think I'd go crazy if I spent another second staring around the room—just as I was starting to _hope_ Angie might show up, if only to relieve my boredom—I heard the door to Minato and Kushina's bedroom open and close down the hall. I slowly eased myself off the bed, listening for any uncooperative squeaks.

My door had been left ajar, enough so I could see Minato pass by. He didn't look in on me, and I moved to hover just behind the door as my host took a seat in the kitchen. I only had to wait a second before Kakashi joined him, seeming to appear out of nowhere.

I froze and tried to breathe as quietly as possible, just waiting to be called out for eavesdropping. But if the shinobi in the next room were aware that I was listening in, they did nothing to stop me.

"Report in." It felt like a casual meeting, though they were discussing business.

"It's been a quiet day. Excluding the girl's arrival and the… conflict earlier."

Was it just me or did Kakashi's words sound just a little too clipped? He must have still been bitter about our _conflict_. It was an awfully inappropriate response, but the thought made me want to smile.

"Kani's arrival _was_ a bit last minute," Minato apologized. "I'm sorry I couldn't give you more warning."

There was a moment of silence. Though I couldn't see them, I felt oddly attuned to their emotions and reactions. Perhaps it came from spending so much time with their fictional selves. I could just see Minato patiently waiting out Kakashi's misgivings about insubordination.

"I don't mean to overstep my boundaries," he began at last, cautiously. "But who am I really supposed to be watching? If you're suspicious of that girl, I could do a little recon—"

"I have every confidence she is who she says she is."

"Yeah, well, that's the problem, isn't it? Supposedly, she doesn't _know_ who she is." Kakashi was starting to sound uncharacteristically snappish, and I got the feeling he was frustrated with more than just the current conversation. Teenage Kakashi was a very dark, cynical person. He had a long way to go before he became the adult who could accept the world for what it was and be at peace with that knowledge. Official duties aside, Kakashi had his own, more personal mission—to distance himself from humankind as much as possible. There was no doubt in my mind that Minato had assigned him something so close to home (literally) with his student's best emotional interests in mind. But Kakashi was having none of it.

"I really did hope the two of you could get along." There was Minato's eternal patience.

"I don't need to make friends in order to do my job." There was a stiffness to Kakashi's words. I got the feeling they'd had this conversation before. There was a moment of silence, more uncomfortable than the last. Finally, Kakashi said, "If that's all…"

"You're dismissed." Never had two words seemed more gracious. "Go home and get some rest, Kakashi. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

Kakashi made his exit as quietly as he'd entered, and I slowly backed up and lay back down on the bed. I heard Minato get up and walk back down the hall. The Hokage smiled in at me as he passed, and I fought down my sheepish reaction.

Minato was a very perceptive man. I wouldn't be overhearing anything he didn't want me to hear.

**…**

Biwako made her first appearance early the next morning. Our initial meeting was… less than impressive.

As I had no clothes of my own other than the ones I'd been wearing, I'd borrowed a few things from Kushina the night before. Though her pregnancy wasn't showing yet, she was naturally a lot taller than I was. Her night things were comically big for me, and I wasn't much of a morning person to start with. Actually, I'm not that great with first impressions in general.

But to be fair, Biwako wasn't exactly a bundle of sunshine either. The Third Hokage's wife was uptight and cranky. I got the feeling she and Kakashi had similar philosophies. The state of her interpersonal skills was irrelevant so long as she could see do her job satisfactorily.

In appropriate midwife fashion, it was made clear right from the start that Kushina and the baby were her first priority. Anything that interfered with this—be it an unexpected house guest or an overprotective husband—was treated coldly.

I had just emerged from my room for the day, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, when I spotted the stern woman standing in the apartment. Everyone seemed a little on edge, at which point I noticed I was the only one not dressed and ready for the day.

Biwako turned up her nose at me before ignoring me completely and resuming her conversation with Minato. "I must say, sometimes I question my husband's decision to hand the title of Hokage over to you."

I felt my eyes widen and Kushina puffed up indignantly at her words. But the Hokage himself was patiently waiting out the older woman's speech.

"You are a very talented man, Minato. But I worry that you let your heart rule your judgment."

Biwako fixed us with one last look before saying, "I'll return in an hour to take the girl out into the village, if you insist. We'll have to tell anyone who asks that she's a relative of yours." And then she was gone and the three of us were left in silence.

I looked between the two, wondering if they'd agreed on this cover story together. I'd thought it was pretty well-known that neither Minato nor Kushina had any family to speak of. And what sane person would really believe that I—a scrawny little girl with hair the color of mud and eyes a dull gray—could possibly by one of their relatives—no matter which one, and no matter how distant? My host and hostess were just so… bright. Be it in literal coloring or personality, the two practically glowed.

Kushina slowly let out a breath, dragging me away from my skepticism. I could just picture Minato lecturing her about stress. At last she said, "That woman…"

"She's not so bad," Minato tried to appease, and I suspected it was for my sake. "Biwako can be a little strict, but she means well."

His wife and I both gave him a skeptical look. I personally got the feeling that Biwako would have said something a little more direct to me had Kushina not been looking the way she was. As it was, Minato bid the two of us goodbye, and then it was just Kushina and me.

She plopped down into a chair with a sigh, and I slowly took the seat opposite her. Minato and Kushina were acting like this living arrangement and my constant presence were quite normal, but I was still struggling to wrap my mind around the whole thing.

"I know he's right," she said after a moment. "Biwako's looking out for our best interests, but she's just so humorless."

It took me a minute to realize that by 'our' she meant herself and her unborn son, not the two of us. She laid a contemplative hand on her stomach. I suddenly felt like I was intruding on something private. But just as I was about to excuse myself, the moment was over.

Kushina leaned back, trying to get comfortable. She let out a slow breath, a familiar pout taking over her features. "Seriously, though. You have no idea what it's like to have everyone tip-toeing around you, treating you like an invalid."

In the ensuing silence, I was struck by just how fragile my resolve was. No idea? I'd had fifteen years' worth of being treated like an invalid. And now, only twenty-four hours into my stay, I wanted to spill it all. Only the lingering concept of what the consequences would surely be kept my mouth shut.

_Watch it_, I admonished myself silently. It would be all too easy to slip up, do Kakashi's job for him.

I may have kept my secret, but the silence had passed the point of being uncomfortable. At last, Kushina chuckled and said, "Is this your subtle way of telling me I complain too much?"

"Oh, no—" I rushed to reassure her, but she was already on her feet.

"Well, come on," she said. When I stared at her blankly, she laughed again. "You can't wear that out to the marketplace, you know. And we didn't get a chance to wash the clothes you showed up in, so come on. Let's go see if we can find you something that fits a little better."

**…**

Finding something suitable took us the better part of the next hour. Minato and Kushina didn't own much baggy clothing to start with—such attire would have been hazardous in their line of work—so that made things a little easier right off the bat. But having been sickly my whole life, I was still a lot smaller than either of them. Eventually, we ended up having to pin everything to make it fit.

When Biwako arrived back—right on time—she didn't look any more enthusiastic about our outing, but Kushina was nearly giddy. I could see the way freedom made her eyes light up, and her excitement was catching.

I almost thought they would have to take me back to the hospital, what with the way my head was snapping from side to side. The sights and smells and sounds of Konoha should have been overwhelming, but I couldn't focus on it all at once. I was taking in the village in pieces, one shop quickly being replaced by another.

It wasn't until we stopped abruptly that I remembered the purpose of this outing. The outdoor markets of Konoha were a cool setup that I wished we'd had more of back home, but I wasn't much of a shopper in general. The giddy light never left Kushina's eyes, however. I hadn't pegged her as much of a shopper either, and I quickly linked her good mood to being outside again.

Biwako was keeping a hawkish eye on our surroundings, making sure we didn't go anywhere too crowded. But no one seemed to pay us too much attention.

In the end, my wardrobe consisted largely of things a ninja might wear—comfortable clothing, not too baggy, with a distinct lack of bright colors. Overall, it wasn't too far from what I'd been wearing back home. There were only a few Konoha quirks: how difficult it was to find socks—because I wanted to keep my sneakers for as long as they'd last—and the way all their pants were actually capris. It looked like I'd have to start shaving on a regular basis.

Given how worked up Biwako had been about it, we really weren't out of the apartment for very long. Kushina visibly deflated the closer we got to home. She sighed audibly when we reached the front door, but Biwako, at least, seemed appeased.

"Well, I guess this is it," Kushina groaned. "Will you be letting us out again any time soon?"

"I'll be back for your next appointment," the older woman replied, ignoring Kushina's tone.

I watched the frustration slowly leach out of her as we walked inside and closed the door. For all her complaining, I could tell she was tired out by the day's excitement. So I didn't call her out on any hypocrisy when she retreated to her room almost immediately.

The sun hadn't even started to go down yet, but I was tired too. However, when I closed the door to _my_ room, I found somebody already inside, waiting for me. Angie.

For a moment, everything was still. I expected our conversation to mimic our usual patterns, but the anger I usually felt when I saw Angie was mysteriously missing. Yes, she had taken liberties with my life (death?) that she hadn't had the right to mess with. I didn't care if she_ was_ a guardian angel. And yet… There wasn't anything we could do about it now. So my voice was surprisingly calm when I finally broke the silence.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered, trying to move my mouth as little as possible. "I can't talk to you."

"It's okay," she said, though her voice was oddly quiet, too. "Kakashi got held up with something in town. He's not watching, and Kushina's already asleep."

"I thought you weren't supposed to be here anyway. The reincarnation is irreversible, right? Your job is done."

"That's right." She wouldn't meet my eyes and was playing with the hem of her dress. "But like I said in the hospital, given the circumstances, my boss is giving me some leeway… And there was something I thought you might want to know."

She looked too nervous for it to be anything good, but I asked anyway, "What is it?"

"Your mother had the baby today."

This news could not have been more unexpected. And for a moment, I literally could not comprehend what she'd just said. "What?"

"Your mother gave birth," she repeated. "You have a little brother. Or… had… I guess."

Angie looked like she was bracing for an explosion. And I didn't disappoint.

"Is she okay?! This is exactly what I was afraid of!" I had to shout to compensate for the buzzing in my ears. I no longer cared who I woke up or convinced of my insanity.

"She's fine!" Angie rushed to assure me. "They both are. The baby was full-term. His name is Connor, by the way."

Now I was sure I'd heard her wrong. Or I was hallucinating or something. "That's not possible. She still had a few months to go _yesterday_."

"That's the thing… Time moves differently across the worlds. Back in your universe, it _has_ been a few months since you died."

I froze from the inside out. I couldn't control my thoughts. No sooner did one form than it was replaced by another.

The time difference made the staggered storyline make sense at least. Not that it explained how an entire world got translated into the form of an anime in another dimension.

Connor… Of course. Leave it to my (our) parents to memorialize their daughter by giving their son practically the same name.

My parents… God, this mean they'd already been grieving for me for _months_. I could barely fathom it.

And my brother. Did my parents have it in them to give him the fresh start every newborn deserves? Or would my brother grow up in the shadow of the dead sister he'd never met?

"Connie?" Angie sounded frightened. I focused back on the present to see Angie staring at me with wide eyes.

Only then was I aware of the wetness trailing down my cheeks. Shit. I was crying.

I slowly sank down to the floor. I'd put off mourning for my past life, but I could avoid it no longer. I couldn't admit it to myself, but when Angie showed up today, I'd been sure this whole mess was over. She'd found a way to fix this. What other news could she possibly have? But this was it. I finally accepted it. I was stuck. There was no way back.

For the first time since my reincarnation, I felt that familiar shortness of breath. My chest was heaving. My shoulders were shaking. I couldn't breathe.

It was over. I would never go back. I would never see my home or my parents again… And despite all its flaws… I missed my life.

**Review please!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**(Damn. Why is it so hard to write a 5-page school paper when I can write a 6 and a half-page chapter **_**without**_** the double spacing?)**


	6. Chapter Five

**Damn. I can't believe it's already been more than a year since I put up the prologue. I really meant to have more than five chapters up by now, but… well, life happens. There is a reason I originally planned to put up only one-shots. But I shall persevere!**

**Thank you **Littlebirdd **for reviewing chapter four!**

**Chapter Five**

As the days passed, it became more and more apparent that companionship was all that was really expected of me. Naruto's presence was starting to show, but his mother was as stubborn as ever. Kushina insisted on doing as much for herself as possible, and my suspicions of becoming their maid were soon swept away.

However, I was starting to _wish_ I had cleaning to do. I understood now why Kushina complained so much about being cooped up in their small apartment. Sure, she was no longer alone, (Kakashi hardly counted as company) but now the two of us were going crazy together. Evidently, she felt the same way. We'd begun _making_ messes just so we'd have something to do.

May quietly faded into June, but it was nearly July before the summer started to show its true colors. Konoha was a land of many things, but air conditioning was not one of them. But I must say, my self-pity quickly wore off in the face of more intense suffering. Kushina and the heat did not mix well, and she began to spend more and more time holed up in her dark bedroom or worse—hunched over the toilet.

On the first day of July—after nearly a week of her misery—I awoke to find Minato still in the apartment, standing in the kitchen. It was only once I joined him that I heard a door farther down the hall shut firmly.

"Biwako," he explained when my head whipped around at the sound. "A few other medical ninja will be joining her later. They want to run some tests on Kushina."

I'd noticed the solemn atmosphere hanging around the apartment. I tried to remind myself that Kushina would be fine. Well…

"I'm no expert on pregnancy," I spoke up, pushing _those_ thoughts away, "but she's not supposed to still be this sick so far along, is she?"

"Biwako doesn't seem to think so, though Kushina insists she's fine." Minato cleared his throat, and I felt knots of dread form in my stomach when I realized his sympathy was now aimed at me. "Kani… Biwako has requested that the apartment be as empty as possible. I've already informed Kakashi."

"Reporting in," came a voice _right behind me_.

"Jesus!" I exclaimed, jumping at least a foot off the ground and whirling around to glare at him. Kakashi was good. I couldn't detect a smirk in what I could see of his expression, but there was no way that had been accidental. Apparently, teenage Kakashi was experiencing a passive aggressive phase.

The most I got out of him now as I continued to stare him down was a puzzled look. "What?"

"What do you mean _what_?!" I snapped back. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"No, what did you just say?" I looked between the two of them and noticed that Minato was also looking at me with more interest than I thought necessary. What I'd said? It occurred to me that Christianity hadn't reached this land. Not that I was super religious or anything. It had been more a force of habit, having grown up in a society where taking the Lord's name didn't really mean anything.

"Say? I didn't say anything." I hoped I was convincing. Just a few random sounds. Right… "You just surprised me."

Kakashi continued to hold my gaze for just a second too long, but I was pretty sure that stemmed from general suspicion, not anything I'd done wrong.

"Well," Minato broke in, "I take it the two of you will be all right today? Perhaps Kakashi can show you around the village."

We were quiet, but Minato knew as well as we did how this would go. Kakashi's sense of duty would win out, and I just didn't have a choice. In the past month, I'd managed to forget that I was being monitored.

I met Kakashi's eye again, and the two of us accepted our fate.

**…**

Being surrounded by the sights and sounds and smells of the village was no less exhilarating the second time. I wanted to remain just as stubbornly cold as my guide, but I found any bitterness I had hard to focus on.

My eyes were sliding back and forth again, trying to see if anything had changed in the month since I'd been outside. Trying to see if I remembered it well enough. I'd left Kakashi a few steps behind, and I could feel him watching me, though it was lacking his usual intensity. I could only imagine what it would be like to show a complete stranger around my hometown. Not that it was really a sound comparison._ My_ home wasn't quite so… beautiful.

I had to stop myself. Damn it. I'd gone a whole week this time.

No matter how many times I told myself I'd accepted that there was no going back, I couldn't seem to stop thinking of 'home' as the far-off world I'd left behind. I wondered how long it would take before I was truly settled in Konoha. I'd never been particularly good at adjusting… I tended to just shove through my problems rather than try to find a way around them.

_Whatever that world was to you is irrelevant now, _I told myself for the umpteenth time. _You _died_, remember? That's about as final as it gets. _

"What's wrong?"

I jumped and turned to see Kakashi staring at me. I hadn't realized I'd literally stopped in the middle of the street.

"Uh, sorry," I stammered out. "I got… distracted."

"Right." He turned back to the street before us, his expression carefully detached. And our tense little outing likely would have continued on in this manner if another voice hadn't cut through the regular commotion of the village.

"My eternal rival!" A second later, a very loud, noticeable green blur dropped into view. "I should have known I would find you here!"

Kakashi had frozen. I could see the muscle above his eye twitching, though Gai seemed oblivious to this.

"Would you slow down? We're supposed to relax and recharge on our day off." Two other teenagers came into view a second later—Asuma and Kurenai. My guide didn't seem exactly ecstatic to see them either.

"Have you been following me?" Kakashi asked irritably, his composure slipping a little. "If you've all got that much free time on your hands, sign up for more missions. There's certainly enough to go around."

I couldn't help smiling a little. I wondered, was Kakashi bitter about being taken out of the field himself? Probably. I knew the three before us formed their own sort of team at some point to try and make Kakashi a better person… which Minato would've been totally on board with. Was it _their_ fault Kakashi was here, babysitting me today? And did he know?

My smile resembled a smirk a little too closely, and Kakashi noticed. It was only once he turned to me that the others even seemed to notice I was there.

"You must be Kushina's… companion," said Kurenai, sounding about as sure of my exact title as I was.

"Connie," I supplied, and the rest of them made their own introductions.

Gai, of course, was loudest of all. "How wonderful to meet another friend of my noble rival! It's fantastic to see him branching out—"

"We're not friends," Kakashi interrupted firmly, and I didn't even take advantage of this perfect opportunity to embarrass him in front of his friends. I was feeling uncharacteristically timid. It had been a long time since I'd been among a group of teenagers, and I hadn't exactly had an abundance of friends even when I'd been in regular schooling.

"We were about to go grab lunch," Asuma said at last, breaking the somewhat awkward silence that followed. "You should join us. …Unless you have other plans," he added, looking pointedly at me.

They'd backed him into a corner, here in the middle of this bright marketplace. Even if he turned them down, he and I would have to do something about lunch pretty soon anyway, and chances are, we'd run into them again in the process. In the end, we agreed and ended up at a newly-opened Ichiraku's, of all places.

It was a little surreal for me, especially because everyone else was experiencing the most famous ramen stand in the _Naruto_ universe for the first time also. Asuma was grumbling about being outvoted, (he'd wanted to go out for barbecue) but I could tell he was enjoying it as much as everyone else. Even Kakashi (who had finished his own bowl in record timing while the rest of us had been looking away) had lost his edge. He turned down a second helping and was now sitting peacefully among the rest of us.

"Kushina would love this place," I said about halfway through our meal. I'd had a few months to get the hang of chopsticks, and it wasn't even obvious that I was a clumsy foreigner anymore.

"Does she like ramen?" Kurenai asked curiously.

I laughed out loud, and Kakashi looked like he was suppressing one. It surprised me that Kurenai had to come to me, fishing for information. But then, it wasn't like they'd had a lifetime to google every little detail of their peers' lives. Minato was the one in the spotlight. Biwako was doing her job, keeping Kushina's life private.

We were just getting ready to leave when Teuchi stopped us. He looked so much younger, he was almost unrecognizable, and I realized Ayame wasn't even old enough to be helping behind the counter yet.

"Hey, I just wanted to thank you guys for your kind words. You were great customers, and I was wondering if you all wanted to take some home with you."

We began to turn him down, but he continued somewhat sheepishly, "Please. You'd be doing me a big favor, actually. Business has been really slow so far, and I may have been a little overzealous… It would just be going to waste if you don't take it."

In the end, we couldn't really say no. So the five of us parted ways laden down with takeout bags. And, comfortably away from the crowd, I couldn't help but begin scheming.

"Those should be refrigerated as soon as possible," I pointed out a little too helpfully.

Kakashi scowled at me. (I was getting better at reading the expressions behind his mask.) He replied smoothly, "Then we'd better get you back to the apartment."

"We haven't been gone that long," I countered. "Do _you_ want to deal with Biwako if we interrupt them?"

He glared at me, and I stared him down. We both knew full well that he could have found a way to make Biwako's retaliation solely _my_ problem, so I was a little surprised when he actually caved.

"Fine," he said in a dangerously low voice. "But we're just dropping off the food, and that's_ it_."

I nodded compliantly and didn't try to push the subject. I had to wonder, though. Why did _he_ think I was so keen to find out where he lived? The possibilities were wildly entertaining, mostly inappropriate, and it took all I had not to burst out laughing.

Later, I would wonder if Kakashi was taking the most complicated route possible on purpose. We turned down more side streets than I could even count until finally, we ended up at a very simple apartment complex. It certainly didn't have the feel of a ninja residence, but Kakashi probably liked the anonymity.

He led me up the stairs quickly and in through a door at the end of the hall. Like the outside, the inside of Kakashi's apartment was very simple—and dim. He didn't bother turning on any lights, instead heading straight for the kitchen. There were no curt instructions for me to stay in the entryway, so I wandered in after him.

It was about what I'd expected… The walls were bare; this place barely looked lived in at all.

Kakashi was currently distracted, juggling the leftovers in one hand, making room in his fridge with the other. I walked slowly into the next room and spotted the only decoration in the whole place. It was a shrine to Rin and Obito. His own team photo had been placed on top.

I stared down at it until I felt a dark presence looming behind me. Kakashi's glare seemed to be reaching its peak, but I interrupted, "Isn't it, like, some kind of bad luck to put a picture of a living person on shrine?"

It was entirely the wrong thing to say, and I knew it… but it was a little… disturbing. It wouldn't be long before Minato _would _need a shrine of his own, and if Kakashi's state of mind was bad _now_…

It was really starting to bother me. I'd never been a very superstitious person… but hell, that was _before_ I'd literally been brought back from the_ dead_ by a blundering cherub-angel.

"Minato sensei is the most powerful shinobi in the Land of Fire… That's what the title of Hokage means," he said in a measured voice. "I doubt you need to worry."

There was a moment of silence with only the elephant in the room between us. I wondered if Kakashi was truly indifferent to the possibility of his own death. I held his gaze for another second before letting it go.

"He seems pretty young for such a lofty title," I said as casually as possible, looking back at the shrine. Of course, I knew full well what Minato was capable of. In fact, I probably knew more about his past than his student did.

Kakashi made a small noise that sounded like a scoff. "Minato is a great man. He's devoted his life to making sure everyone in the village can live a life without fear."

I echoed his little snort and said before I could stop myself, "Yeah, he seems like the type."

"Just what do you mean by that?" Kakashi's voice had taken on that dangerous tone again, and one of his hands had clenched into a fist. I knew it was a little unfair, but I was getting frustrated with his aloof superiority, and being antagonistic was just second nature by now.

"It's just… I know a hero complex when I see one."

"A hero complex?" Kakashi repeated in that same dark voice.

"You said it yourself; he thinks he can keep every single person in this village safe and happy… He found some bratty little girl out in the woods and took her into his home… when she clearly wasn't worth his time or trouble… And he hasn't given up on _you_, even when you've given up on yourself."

There was another moment of silence. Kakashi no longer looked angry… just slightly uncomfortable. "Perhaps you should let Minato sensei decide your worth to him."

All of my own anger had melted away too. I gave him a wry little smile. "I have no delusions about who I am. Believe me, Minato's a thousand times a better person than I am, and I appreciate that. I really do. I'd have nothing without him right now. But people like him… They tend to spend all their goodness on people who don't deserve it. People like us."

I saw a little quirk in his eye that could have been a smile. He didn't contradict me. I knew I was hardly one to judge. _Kakashi _was certainly worth more to this world than_ I_ was. But I also knew he wouldn't see it that way, and there was no point in arguing with him about it. But I could live with that. For the first time, it felt like we could possibly be friends.

"Come on," Kakashi said at last. "I'm sure Lady Kushina will be missing you by now."

**Review please!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**Fair warning, the next chapter might be a while. Finals are coming up for me, and I've yet to decide whether the next chapter is going to be really long… or two shorter chapters. **


	7. Chapter Six

**So, a few shorter chapters it is. This one really just sets up a plot point for the next one… Which may just be that massive chapter I was promising. **

**Thank you **Lulumo **and **Ducky the Insomniac Panda **for reviewing chapter six and **LunaAngel-Eclipse **for reviewing chapter one!**

**Chapter Six**

Kakashi walked me up the steps in amicable silence, but he was gone without so much as a 'goodbye' the second I opened the door. I rolled my eyes, but it wasn't like I'd expected anything more. He was still a long way off from being personable.

Minato and Kushina were sitting at the table when I walked in. They stopped their conversation, though not abruptly, when they heard the door open. Both of Naruto's parents smiled at me, and I smiled back. We'd finally gotten to the point where our company didn't feel tense or forced from any side. The three of us now shared an odd sort of familiarity.

"Welcome back," Minato greeted.

"You're looking better," I directed at Kushina. And she was. Her face had a healthy glow to it that I hadn't seen in more than a week.

"I'm feeling better," she agreed. "And there's more good news. They moved up my due date a few weeks. Now Biwako suspects I'll give birth at the start of October, not the end."

"Well, that's something to celebrate," I said with an even wider grin. This was not news to me, of course, but it didn't have to be a surprise to be a happy occasion. I pulled the Ichiraku's bag out from behind my back. "And perfect timing. I brought something back for you."

Kushina's eyes lit up almost comically as the ramen was reheated and I described Teuchi's shop in as much detail as I could remember. Minato's smile as he watched us was warm.

"So I take it spending time with Kakashi wasn't too bad?" he asked at last.

I didn't answer right away, wanting to choose my words very carefully.

Minato laughed, misreading my hesitation. "He's not here, if that's what you're worried about."

I laughed too. No, that wasn't quite it… If I was going to insult him, I could just as well do it to his face. "He's just…" I pursed my lips, trying to find a way to describe the experience. At last, I decided on, "We talked a little about his team mates."

"Really." Kushina had paused her eating, and Minato's eyebrows had shot up. The Fourth Hokage gave me an appraising look, as if he was seeing me for the first time. I shouldn't have expected any less. Kakashi wasn't exactly the type to open up. …And he hadn't. But Rin and Obito were weighing on my mind, and there was no good reason I _should_ know about them. Kakashi having a sudden change of heart was just the easiest scapegoat.

"Don't get me wrong," I said quickly, trying to dispel their awe. "He's still an asshole… But I know now it's because he's sad."

A very unwelcome image of my parents rose up in my mind. I'd tried to avoid wondering about how they were coping. Even if I had proof of their suffering, there was nothing I'd be able to do about it from who knows how many dimensions away.

"Has he always lived alone?" I asked, even though I already had this information, too.

"Both of his parents died when he was young," Minato answered gravely, propping his elbows up on the table and twining his fingers together. "I've tried to help him however I can, but… Kakashi is very… independent. And I'm a little low on time these days."

"Right, well, thanks for getting me out of the house at least." I was feeling very agreeable all of a sudden. I hadn't seen much of the village yet, but the months I'd spent in Konoha had made me very comfortable with Naruto's parents, if nothing else.

By this point, Kushina had turned her full attention to her meal. I moved to go back to my room, and Minato cleared his throat.

"Kani… There's someone coming to see you later."

I raised my eyebrows. "Me?" I didn't know enough people to be getting visitors.

"Miyako Hyuga. The nurse from the hospital? She'd like to conduct a follow-up." But there was something about Minato's voice that told me this wasn't just a routine follow-up.

"Oh," I said, trying to keep my reactions minimal. But a nervousness had welled up inside of me. Miyako Hyuga… Sure, she'd been nice enough and efficient as a nurse. But she'd been plenty suspicious, too.

I should have been worrying about Minato and Kushina by now. After all, Kushina's due date was fast approaching. I only had a little more time with them. But I'll be honest. As news of Miyako's visit sank in, my thoughts turned to self-preservation.

It wasn't so crazy to think that my host and hostess had grown genuinely fond of me in the months that we'd spent together. But how far would they be willing to go to protect me if Miyako's check-up turned up something unexpected? I wasn't even sure what I should be worried about her finding.

Needless to say, the next few hours spent waiting for her arrival were hell. I was glad Minato and Kushina let me be, pacing their small guest bedroom, because by the time Miyako did make her appearance, I was an anxious mess.

She stood in the doorway for a moment longer than I felt was necessary, intimidatingly professional. I stared back, my look a little harsher than she probably deserved, too. Our little staredown went on until all my muscles were stiff.

She broke the tension first. Miyako's look of stern observation softened into an amused, almost gentle smile, much as it had when I'd first met her in the hospital.

"Glad to see some things haven't changed. I heard you settled in well. Lord Hokage, at least, only had positive things to report, and I can tell Lady Kushina feels the same way. It sounded like the perfect time to run some further tests."

"Perfect, huh?" I shot back, though I hoped she could tell I wasn't trying to be mean. I really did kind of like her. I mean, as far as nurses go. "Did you _want _to catch me off guard? What are we testing here, exactly?"

To my surprise, Miyako began to laugh. "There's that fire! I was hoping it hadn't gone out, living in luxurious isolation like this. Why don't you follow me to the hospital? We can discuss everything there."

**…**

Two trips outside in the same day. I should have been ecstatic. But a lingering uneasiness had settled in my chest that Miyako had not been able to dispel. Because we both knew that there _was_ something unusual about me that I didn't particularly want investigated further.

The entrance to the hospital appeared before us alarmingly quickly. Miyako and I slipped into a private room in the back without attracting any attention. It would seem that her tests were a personal experiment. I briefly considered exposing her to whoever was in charge before quickly concluding that this was a stupid idea. For all I knew, they would be curious too.

The room was surprisingly bare. No complicated medical machinery. Just a bed on one wall, an examination table on the other, and the two of us in between.

"You look tense," Miyako noted, picking up a clipboard.

I huffed out a snort. "Let's just say I'm not crazy about being poked and prodded in a hospital."

I'd certainly had enough of it in my first life, but I could hardly tell her that.

"Well, there won't be too much of that today."

Today? I didn't like the sound of that. But I got up onto the examination table when she motioned for me to do so for the same reason I was doing a lot of things these days: I didn't have much choice.

And suddenly, Miyako was 100% medical professional once again, like flipping a switch. She held her clipboard and pen a little steadier. If she'd been wearing glasses, she surely would have pushed them studiously up her nose.

"Right. So how has your memory been? Has anything come back to you? Have you forgotten anything else since leaving the hospital?"

I shook my head wordlessly in response to both questions, and she didn't press me further on the subject.

"General health? No colds, aches and pains, anything?"

I shook my head again. No lie there. I'd never felt better.

"All right. Excellent." Miyako set her clipboard down on the bed across the room. The routine follow-up was over. Now we were getting into the real meat of things.

"What do you know about chakra, Kani?"

I exhaled with a shrug. Why did she have to ask such a blanket question? I had no idea what I _should_ know. Definitely not as much as I did. How much were ordinary civilians taught about chakra? But then, I was supposed to have been some kind of rogue, uncultured nomad. Could I get away with playing the amnesia card here? But that wouldn't make sense. Supposedly, I'd only forgotten personal details, not basic knowledge.

The longer I tried to puzzle this out, the closer Miyako began to scrutinize me.

"I heard you and Minato talking about it that first night I was in the hospital," I said at last. "Something dramatic about it being the world's most basic life force or… whatever." I trailed off, waiting for her to jump in.

"Basically," she confirmed. "Chakra exists everywhere in the world. In all living things. And nonliving things can be infused with it for short periods of time, which is the basis for many jutsu. But chakra is responsible for numerous, everyday bodily functions as well. The chakra network is so closely entwined with the respiratory system, for example, that a person can't live without it. This is something shinobi are trained to be very conscious of. If you push yourself too hard, deplete your chakra completely, your heart could just give out, like any other muscle."

All this sounded disturbingly familiar, and not because I already knew full well how chakra worked. I tried to recall exactly how it felt for my heart to just quit on me, in conjunction with some of the more dramatic fights throughout the series. My memories of my death were already a little fuzzy, (something I'd certainly never thought I'd forget _before_ I'd died) but I suddenly had a much deeper respect for all the times my favorite characters had continued to persevere in the face of futility.

"Some shinobi," Miyako continued, "my clan in particular, can learn to manipulate not just their own chakra, but that of other people as well. The chakra network spans a person's entire body. It can be difficult to guard yourself when your opponent's target is your chakra points themselves."

"But it didn't work on me," I finished for her.

"No." That look of puzzled frustration had returned to her pale eyes. "In all my years of training, I've never gotten a response like yours. Which would be no response at all. I did a preliminary sweep with my Byakugan that first night. And I couldn't detect the presence of any chakra at all. Which just isn't possible."

It was an interesting comparison, for sure. In my first world—what I'd begun to think of as my birth world, the same way adopted people have birth parents—chakra and all its nearly magical qualities was little more than an abstract idea to the general public. And here it was a well-accepted piece of the average person's anatomy.

"So," Miyako concluded, "I'd like to do a little further research. Nothing really invasive today. I'd just like to record a few things. Set some base stats for when we do go deeper. That way I can know what's irregular."

And here I was, at the mercy of a medical professional yet again. "Great." I knew I sounded less than enthusiastic. "Where do we start?"

My resignation made Miyako smile. "I'll check your vitals, draw some blood, set you up with some internal professionals, and then you'll be free to go. For our first visit."

Our _first_ visit. Wonderful. But there'd been no mention of repercussions if any irregularities did show up. So I patiently endured Miyako taking my weight, height, and blood pressure. She led me into the next room, which contained a reclining medical chair, and drew two vials of my blood with the efficiency I'd come to expect of her.

This room was more professionally equipped than the last. I remained in the chair, a little dazed and dizzy as I always was after blood procedures, while Miyako immediately turned to the counter to begin examining it. I'd always been a little confused by the technological advancements in some aspects of this world and not others. I had to guess it came from differing societal priorities. The counter was lined with complex scientific microscopes, but Miyako had opted to activate her Byakugan instead.

I could still feel my heartbeat in every sector of my body. I tried to take everything in a little at a time, focusing first on the gauze taped to my vein, then to the plastic cup of ice water she'd set down beside me. One would think I'd have built up some sort of resistance to this by now.

My mind was finally starting to clear when Miyako turned back to me. Her expression was a little hard to read, but very focused. I'd begun to think of her less as a nurse and more as a scientist.

"Well, all your cell counts are healthy. Your oxygen levels are good. There's just one test left."

As if on cue, two more medical ninja entered the room, wearing the standard bland hospital garb. Ah, yes, the 'internal professionals.' It soon became clear that these two were here to replace X-Rays. I could soon see their hands aglow with chakra. Neither of them said a word, but I didn't move as they approached the chair and began their probing. It was an odd feeling. It didn't hurt, exactly. But, though their fingers never broke the skin, it was almost as if they were touching my insides directly. I had to hold myself very still to keep from squirming away. I took deep breaths, focused instead on counting the ceiling tiles. I only relaxed once their hands had moved over my entire body and then, finally, pulled away.

They turned immediately to Miyako, as if I had been nothing more than a piece of meat, undeserving of so much as a little polite awkwardness on their part. I glowered, but no one noticed.

"No abnormalities, Ma'am," they repeated back. "No tears in any of the muscles, no interruptions to the flow of blood, all organs are accounted for and functioning."

Miyako checked these things off as mechanically as they'd reported them, but I sat up a little straighter. Could this really be accurate? I was having a hard time believing it, even though, the more I thought about it, the more sense it made.

I hadn't been any colder or more tired than a healthy person since my arrival here. I could keep up with Kushina, at least. I finally seemed to be gaining weight like a healthy person as well. My wrists and shoulders and hips were not quite as prominent as they had been back on _my_ Earth.

This should have been great news, but frankly, I felt… lost. My illness had been as much a part of my identity as my hobbies or eye color. It was disconcerting to realize this. I'd tried so hard to be independent, and I'd thought I'd succeeded. I couldn't pinpoint the exact moment when I'd _become_ my anatomical weaknesses.

No one else in the room seemed to notice my new-life crisis. Miyako simply nodded and dismissed the other two. She was still jotting notes down on her clipboard when she finally addressed me again.

"That's it for today, Kani. You're welcome to go. I'm sure you can find your own way back. Technically, you're supposed to have an escort at all times, but…"

Clearly, she didn't want her work interrupted. And I hardly minded. I hadn't felt nearly as smothered as I'd been expecting, but I liked my freedom, all the same. I hopped down from the chair, finally feeling some of the lightness that should have come immediately. I even gave Miyako a genuine smile.

"I'll be back tomorrow," she threw carelessly over her shoulder as I headed for the door, "so we can continue this."

I didn't do anything to acknowledge this. It wasn't necessary.

By the time the hospital doors spit me back out into the energetic bustle of the village, I was ecstatic. I took off at a run. I'd never been allowed to exert myself much physically. The one time I had, I'd _died_. Not that I'd ever been _longing_ for the joy of exercise or anything. But now I pushed myself as I never had before.

I ran until my muscles ached, until I was painfully aware of my overworked lungs. But I didn't stop, and I wasn't worried. For the first time, I was certain that my body could take it. That I was capable of impressive things.

The crowd parted as I rushed through it. I caught a few dirty looks as people jumped out of my way. I didn't care. They would get over it. For the moment, I was on top of the world, and I planned to enjoy it.

It took a few seconds for me to realize there was someone running alongside me. I wasn't even freaked out. I laughed, loud and clear, at the sight of Gai slowing his pace to more or less match my adrenaline-filled stride.

He beamed in return. "Kani! How wonderful to see another person embracing their youth on such a beautiful afternoon!"

He continued to shout after me, something about Kakashi, as our paths split and I headed toward home.

Minato was waiting for me when I finally arrived, red-faced and sweaty and thoroughly out of breath. He gave me an inquisitive smile as he opened the door for me. A smile that I returned but did not answer. I was still too caught up in the moment.

Angie's botched reincarnation had done some good after all. I was healthy.

_Healthy_. I'd never been able to lay claim to the word before. And now it was all mine. I was healthy. I was free. And I couldn't even bring myself to be worried about what tomorrow would bring.

**Review please!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**This chapter ended up being very OC heavy. I haven't decided yet just how big of a role Miyako will have, but she'll be important at least up through the next chapter. Thank you for reading!**


	8. Chapter Seven

**I didn't mean for the time between Minato and Kushina taking Connie in and Naruto's birth to span out quite this much… **

**Thank you **taran taran **for reviewing chapter seven! And thank you **Tanner Clark **for reviewing every chapter so far, and also for coming up with the 'Kaniko' nickname for Connie. I don't know if it will ever come up again, but I did borrow it for this chapter. It's super flattering for someone to get so into something I've written that they've kind of made it their own, so thank you again!**

**Chapter Seven**

Once again, Minato welcomed me inside, but there was something about his smile… Upon a second glance, I was instantly certain that he could not be so pleased just to see _me_. And I was right.

"Welcome back, Kani. We've had another guest. Someone I'd like you to meet…"

He led me into the kitchen with a bit of a flourish, and I entered to find a man seated at the table. He was older, with broad shoulders and a mane of white hair that I recognized immediately.

I froze just inside the doorway, and Jiraiya turned to look at me. There was a youthfulness to his eyes, something giddy remaining in his expression. I knew this scene. Minato and Kushina had just told him they would be naming their son after the protagonist of his book. But there was no reason I should know any of this. So I just tried to mimic his look of vague curiosity.

Our stare down didn't last long enough to become awkward. Minato was close behind. He smiled at both of us. "Kani, this is Master Jiraiya. He was my teacher. He's a writer, too. I'm glad you have a chance to meet him before the baby is born. Kushina and I have picked out a name, you see."

"Naruto." The smile on Jiraiya's face was flattered, almost dazed. He looked almost as if he was hearing the news again for the first time.

"The name of a character from his novel." Minato and his teacher shared a smile. There was a sharp whistling sound from the next room. "Kushina put on more tea. I'll go help her and let you two get acquainted."

He left us then, and I slowly took the seat across from Jiraiya. The Sannin was watching me with an almost suspiciously blank expression.

"It's nice to meet you," I tried out, the pleasantry feeling foreign on my tongue. I was no good at making nice. Or small talk, for that matter. But uncomfortable as this meeting was, I did have a lot of respect for Jiraiya.

Finally, he settled his elbow on the table, impossibly more relaxed than I was, and_ I_ was the one who lived here. He only nodded at my greeting. "Kushina's told me a little about you. Kani… The name's a bit masculine for such a pretty young girl."

I didn't bother to mask my scoff. Despite my progress in this world, I knew I still looked kind of sickly. And I didn't have the personality for 'pretty.' But I chose to linger on his tone, rather than his words. Even Jiraiya was above flirting with a teenager. But there was a questioning quality to these words. He was testing me.

When I didn't react, Jiraiya pressed, "Have you considered any nicknames? I'm a fan of 'Kaniko' myself. I mean, you're in a pretty unique spot. You've got the chance to make yourself anyone you want to be."

"I_ like_ my name," I answered finally. Though nearly every person I encountered in this world felt the need to comment on it, I hadn't given much thought to my name. Back in my world, I _hadn't_ actually liked it that much. Connie… It had always felt like the name of a much older person. A little old-fashioned, but not enough to have the antiquity to it that made a lot of older names cool these days. But suddenly, I felt oddly possessive about it. Jiraiya already knew about the amnesia ruse. Clearly, he wasn't sure if he believed it yet, but I decided to play it up anyway. "It's all I've got left."

"Not anymore it isn't," Kushina said brightly, breaking the tension beautifully. Minato followed her in, a hand on the small of her back. She set the tea down on the table between us, and the two of them took their seats, Minato across the table, Kushina beside me. Naruto's mother beamed at me. "You've got us now."

I smiled a little weakly, trying to relax. I had to remind myself, not everything was a confrontation. "Not for much longer," I muttered.

Immediately, I looked down. That was dark, even for me. A pounding began behind my eyes. My muscles went weak. Shit. This was it. She was in the final stretch of her pregnancy. If I was going to do something about their impending doom, now was the time.

But Kushina seemed to think my eyes were glued to her protruding abdomen. She laughed, placing a hand there. "It's true, I may not be in need of a _companion_ for much longer. I do plan on returning to active duty eventually. But that just means we'll need a babysitter!"

I had picked up one of the teacups, hoping to still my shaking hands, but I choked on her last words. My surprise seemed to amuse my hosts, but I sputtered, "Um, I'm not really… I mean, I've never babysat anyone a day in my life!" I'd hardly been allowed to take care of _myself_.

"Not that you'd remember if you had," said Jiraiya a little slyly. But if anyone else felt his words sounded a little off, they didn't comment. In any case, he went on cheerfully a second later, "A godfather and a babysitter in the same day. That's one lucky kid!"

And, just like that, the conversation moved on into a lighthearted evening of catching up with each other's lives. Which left me feeling a bit out of place. My entire life, as far as they knew anyway, had been spent here—as Kushina's _companion_. At the same time, I genuinely appreciated being included, and having nothing to add gave me time to reflect.

How to go about bringing up their deaths? It wasn't the kind of thing I could just throw out there. And even if the mood was right and I was able to explain everything in a calm and chronological manner, how could I prove any of it? Would it look like I'd spent all this time gaining their trust just to spring some crazy ulterior motive on them now? What could they think I would possibly want from them? They'd already given me everything. For god's sake, they wanted me to help take care of their only child!

My head was spinning, trying to find the course of action that would raise the fewest questions. The night passed me by in a blur. Before I knew it, Jiraiya was getting up from the table to leave for the night, and I suddenly realized how stiff I was.

It was like a spell had been broken. We all stood then, my hosts wishing Jiraiya farewell with the promise to see him again tomorrow. I stretched, watching the scene at a distance, feeling strangely lightheaded.

Jiraiya gave me one last parting nod on his way out, but I found it difficult to focus on. If he was trying to send me some message, I didn't catch it.

The house was almost too quiet when the door shut behind him. Minato picked up the tea tray to bring our dishes to the sink, and I turned to Kushina. I hadn't really figured anything out, but I felt the need to say _something_. I could barely get the words out, though. That lightheadedness had worsened tenfold when I'd stood up. And apparently, it wasn't all in my head.

Kushina looked like she was seeing me for the first time. "Kani, are you okay? You're looking kinda pale."

I didn't need a mirror to know this was an understatement. I was suddenly very warm, and I realized what was going to happen next.

Kushina exclaimed something when I hit the floor, and Minato was by my side a second later when I blacked out.

**…**

I'd been healthy for so long… Even if I hadn't realized it. But the sensation of waking up after passing out was still very familiar.

A hand was checking my forehead a second after I'd opened my eyes, another setting a glass of water down on the bedside table. I'd been moved to my bed. It was a bit reassuring to recognize the familiar walls of the guest bedroom and not the aggressively sterile hospital setting.

"Hey." Minato smiled when he saw I was conscious. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," I groaned. I brought a hand up to my head but didn't bother trying to sit up. "I got blood drawn today. And then I ran all the way here like an idiot and didn't eat anything all night… It was a stupid slip-up. I know better."

I was fairly annoyed with myself, to tell the truth. How many blood procedures had I gone through over the years? I knew how I reacted to them. I should have had that routine too deeply ingrained to forget.

"Oh?" Minato looked curious and a little confused. I was still groggy, but I was alert enough to know that I was starting to sound a little odd again, so I hurried to cover myself.

"Miyako warned me before she started."

They accepted this explanation without question, and I was glad. I was too tired for a serious interrogation.

"Well, there's soup on the stove now," Minato told me, but I was already drifting off again. It had been a long day…

**…**

When I woke again, the room was dark, but my door had been left ajar, and the room beyond it was still lit. This left my room illuminated with a comfortable glow. I didn't even try to get up. I became aware of voices filtering in with the light. Familiar voices.

"Sorry to rush off on you like this, but I've gotten a lead I can't ignore." Jiraiya.

"I understand." And Minato. "You're sure it's him."

There was silence for a moment, during which I presumed Jiraiya nodded. His voice was grim. "By now, I'm an expert at recognizing the traces Orochimaru leaves behind… when we're lucky enough to find anything at all."

Orochimaru. A little thrill sprang up in the pit of my stomach at the sound of his name. I'd almost forgotten just how many dangers were lurking in this world.

"Well, good luck." There was something a little off about Minato's response.

Jiraiya chuckled. "I know it must seem like an obsession to you. But it's just… something I have to do."

"Of course." My host sounded chagrined at being called out on his doubt. "I respect that."

"There is one last thing." Now Jiraiya was the one who sounded uncertain. "That girl…"

Minato's laugh was the shortest of sounds. "I should have guessed. Everyone wants to know my plans for Kani."

"I take it you _do_ trust her then?"

I wasn't having any trouble hearing them, but I found myself straining my ears anyway. When my host answered, his voice was reassuringly confident.

"Yes, I do. And so does Kushina, and she spends a lot more time with her than I do."

"I guess it's just…" Jiraiya sounded like he was trying hard not to overstep any boundaries. "You've always had a good heart. But taking in some random girl off the streets who claims to have amnesia… To spend time with your pregnant wife… I have to say, Minato. Even for you, it's a little… naïve."

Minato was quiet, but I could picture his patient smile. He'd made his point on the subject of his trust, and this sent a rush of warmth through me. Jiraiya seemed to accept that this was all he was going to get, too.

"…And the memory loss? I trust _you_, Minato. And if you truly believe her story, then I'll let it go. But I have to be honest. It seems a little… convenient."

The warmth cooled a bit over the course of his next silence. I really shouldn't have been surprised. Minato _was_ kind, but he was also too smart to accept everything at face value.

"I know," Minato said at last. "I'm not sure how much she actually remembers, but… I went to go see the site of the massacre. Before anyone had even moved the bodies. It was brutal, Jiraiya. And thorough. It must have taken a miracle for Kani to get through that unscathed."

"Exactly," pressed Jiraiya. "Put the horror of it out of your mind for a second. The thoroughness of it all is exactly what makes her circumstances suspicious. You said she was unconscious, but there wasn't a scratch on her? Whoever perpetrated the massacre… It was likely another band of nomads. Uncivilized rogues. They don't deal in internal injuries, and they're not exactly the brightest group around. Without a slashed throat or some other obviously fatal injury, they'd probably assume she was _sleeping_. If they were so thorough with everyone else, why would they just leave her there?"

"What are you suggesting?" Minato cut in. "That she used some sort of genjutsu to make them overlook her and then passed out from the exertion?"

"I know it sounds crazy," Jiraiya admitted. "But is it impossible?"

"It is, actually. The reason Miyako is… investigating her is because Kani appears to have no usable chakra. She's been unable, thus far, to detect any chakra at _all_."

"Well, that _is_ impossible," Jiraiya mused, sounding more interested than ever. "Could she have sealed it herself?"

"She'd have to be exceptionally well-trained," said Minato doubtfully. "You can do a lot of damage to yourself if the jutsu is even a little off."

"Damage like… memory loss?"

Minato was quiet for a moment, taking this in. Lying there in the dim light, I felt like I _should_ be worried, but their conversation had started to feel… distant. Almost as if they were talking about somebody else.

"What are you suggesting?" Minato asked at last. "That she had some master plan to get close to us? The tribe of nomads were miles outside the village. It was pure chance that the scouting team thought to investigate close. There are an awful lot of 'maybes' in this scheme."

"I know." They seemed to have come to a standstill. "I really wish I could stay to sit in on Miyako's procedure tomorrow. I know you've got a lot on your plate right now."

I could picture Minato waving away his concerns. "Don't worry about it. Focus on Orochimaru. Settling things with him would ease up on a lot of people's worries. Personally, I may not have the whole story, but I trust Kani. Until the baby is born, I don't plan to focus on anything but Kushina. Have a safe journey."

**Review please!**

**I don't own Naruto!**

**Like I said, I didn't mean for Jiraiya's introduction to be stretched out this much, but I am kind of glad it was. I don't want this to be one of those OC stories that just glances over the OC's fake backstory. Because, I mean, they're a society of super spies. I doubt they accept anything at face value. Thanks for reading!**


	9. Chapter Eight

**Hello, all! **

**This chapter is a little sporadic, but it was super fun to write, and I'm looking forward to the next one… (Hint, hint)**

**I meant for this to be posted a bit sooner, but I had to go get blood drawn earlier today… I've been moving slowly ever since.**

**Thank you so much **lizyeh2000**, **Guest**, **Tanner Clark**, and **taran taran **for reviewing chapter seven! I know four reviews may not seem like much for some stories, but I personally was thrilled with the response! I'm glad you're all liking it so far, and I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. So, onwards!**

**Chapter Eight**

When I opened my eyes next, everything was dark. It was disorienting, to say the least. I distinctly remembered lying awake for hours the previous night, contemplating all that Jiraiya and Minato had discussed, until finally succumbing to exhaustion. It should be morning by now, but my room was never this dark, even when the shades were drawn.

Suddenly, I was unsure whether I was standing or not. I didn't feel anything like a bed underneath me. Hell, there wasn't enough of a reference point for me to tell what was up and what was down.

A sharp pain cut through the disorientation. I hunched over, clutching at my head, but any sound I tried to make when I opened my mouth was swallowed up into the void. The first prickles of panic started to set in just as an outside noise made its way to me through the nothingness.

"…Play with fate like this! She…" It was fading in and out like a bad radio signal.

"…My mistake! …Want what's best…" I struggled to focus on this, certain I could identify this second voice with just a few more phrases… but there was a sudden jerk in the darkness, as if an earthquake had struck the void or something. I lurched to the side, and a third voice erupted into the space around me.

"…ani! Kani! _Kani_!"

**…**

My eyes shot open with a gasp as the world came rushing back to me. I was aware of Kushina's face hovering above me, but the sudden rush of light and sound and_ existence_ was too much to manage all at once. She called my name at least twice more, but I couldn't respond just yet.

"Is she awake?" came another voice. Minato's, I realized belatedly. "I just got word from Miyako. She'll be here soon."

"She's still so cold," said Kushina. She sounded nearly frantic. I was having a hard time processing why this might be.

Things were coming back to me slowly. I was aware of Minato attempting to calm his wife, but they felt very far away. I was remembering the darkness, the disembodied voices, and I had a startling moment of clarity. Which came out all muddled when I tried to voice my epiphany.

"Angie…" I managed in a mumble.

"What?!" Kushina demanded, leaning closer as if that would help her to understand. "What does that mean?"

They were finally coming into focus. I saw Minato put a hand on her shoulder. Kushina's eyes were frighteningly intense.

"She's trying to tell us something," she snapped at him.

"She seems really out of it," Minato tried to soothe her. "I think they were just sounds."

Their front door opened before she could reply.

"Lord Hokage?" Miyako's voice called. "Lady Kushina?"

"We're back here!" Kushina called, her voice painfully loud to my still-adjusting ears.

Nurse Miyako appeared in the bedroom doorway a second later. "What's happened?"

"When Kani didn't wake up this morning, Kushina went to check on her," Minato began.

"She was ice cold and turning blue!" Kushina jumped in.

Miyako's pale eyes finally came to rest on me. My mouth still felt packed with tar, but my vision was no longer blurred, and I stared right back. Miyako slipped a stethoscope out from under her collar, and my host and hostess made room so she could listen to my breathing.

"Her heartbeat is still abnormally slow," she said after a moment, "but her temperature feels almost back to normal." She activated her Byakugan briefly.

"Do you see anything that might have caused this?" Minato asked.

"Not from here, no. There's no obvious physical damage. Whatever happened this morning, it doesn't appear to be life-threatening. But she was going to be back in the hospital for further tests today, anyway. It's just another thing to look into."

"But wait a minute!" interjected Kushina fiercely. "How do we know this wasn't brought on by the tests you already performed on her? It's easy to say it doesn't look life-threatening _now_, you know! You should have seen her this morning!"

"Lady Kushina, I assure you, we did nothing but draw some blood and take measurements yesterday. Nothing that would cause a reaction as severe as you describe. Kani will be in the hands of professionals at the hospital. In your state, you really can't afford to be getting this worked up."

Clearly, Miyako did not have quite the knack for calming Kushina down that Minato did.

"_In my state_?!" Kushina repeated fearsomely, her eyes alight with an enraged fire.

Minato jumped in to try and smooth things over, and I finally felt my throat clear, but I remained silent as their banter continued.

My dark dream vision thing was already starting to blur a little in my memory. I still could not put a name to the remaining voice, but I was certain the second one had belonged to Angie. And though everything involving my guardian angel was a bit bizarre, nothing she'd done so far had been without consequence. I doubted her reappearance in my life was something I'd be able to overlook for long. But for now, the adults seemed to have reached some sort of agreement.

**…**

Minato hadn't said much while transporting me to the hospital. Just that he'd agreed to let Miyako and her assistants perform some more intensive tests on me and that I may have to stay overnight. And as much as I wanted to trust him, there was something awfully grim about his expression…

I still felt a little drowsy by the time I was seated once more on Miyako's examination table. Truth be told, this was almost comfortably familiar. Almost. I'd never been _fond_ of hospitals, exactly, but I'd certainly spent a lot of time in them. Enough to get used to the routine.

But I wasn't as sure of what was going to happen next as I wanted to be. Miyako didn't even speak to me at first. She just bustled around the room, setting up equipment.

"What now?" I demanded at last. The way she was avoiding my eyes was making me wary.

"Now we start the tests," she responded in a toneless voice, straightening up. A second later, her chakra-infused palm slammed into my chest, and I became painfully reacquainted with what it felt like for my lungs to falter. Her assistants rushed into the room, wielding needles and restraints, as I slipped back into the darkness.

**…**

Everything was hazy. It wasn't the utter blackness of before, but this space was just as much of a void. I felt very alert this time around, though. I remembered the trip to the hospital—and Miyako's sudden attack—very clearly. I wondered what was happening to my body right now. Had they been playing me all along with their kindness? Was this what it felt like to be properly dead?

"Connie!" I turned in the haze at the sound of my name and saw Angie zooming toward me. "You're okay!"

"_This_ is okay?" I shot back, though I was a little pleased to see her. "Where the hell are we?"

"We're in a pocket of your consciousness," Angie answered, for once sounding very knowledgeable and totally sure of herself. "Prolonged rest has allowed you to access this normally untapped space."

I stared at her for a second, silently debating on whether or not to comment on her sudden one-eighty. Ultimately, I decided her own smug smile was acknowledgement enough of this achievement. And then my inner debate was brought to a crashing halt as her words really sunk in.

"Wait a minute… 'Prolonged rest'? How long have I been unconscious?"

This one seemed to throw Angie for a loop. As if she'd thought this 'prolonged rest' I was apparently experiencing wouldn't concern me.

"Last time I checked… About a month. It's kind of hard to tell from the inside like this."

"A _month_?!" I shouted, throwing Angie off balance from where she was hovering in midair. "What are they doing to my body out there?!" I tried to find the door to this mental prison to bang my fists on, but there was nothing solid in sight.

"Nothing they didn't warn you about, actually. Miyako's run every test she can think of—and a few I'm pretty sure she invented—trying to find any trace of your chakra network. Although it _is _a little worrisome that they're keeping you this heavily sedated…"

I stared at her, wondering if I needed to reevaluate everything I thought I knew about my guardian angel. I hadn't had a terribly high opinion of her to start with, but she couldn't possibly be this dumb. I made a split-second decision to prioritize. There was something more important than Angie's competence right now.

"You can go in and out?" I demanded.

Her proud smile returned. "Of course! It's one of the perks of the job!"

I gave her a quizzical look, silently urging her to continue. She was only too happy to oblige.

"I'm a guardian angel. It's literally our duty to 'guard life,' see? This is how I granted your wish. I wasn't experienced enough to perform an actual resurrection… So I opened this pocket. I kept a part of you alive, just the way you were, and built off from there until you were whole again."

"And you can still access this space?" I pressed. "You can come and go as you please?"

Angie nodded emphatically. "Yup! This way, a part of me will always be able to stay with you!"

I would think about that later. "Great. So you can get me out then."

Her face fell a little, but my tone left no room for argument, and she could hear it. At last, she said, "I… can try. It's not going to be easy," she hurried to add. "But I might be able to strengthen your consciousness from here enough to counteract the drugs they're feeding into your veins."

She looked worried, but I was determined. "Excellent. Do that."

**…**

I lost track of Angie after that. I had no idea for how long. Like she'd said, it was hard to keep track of time from the inside. I tried to stay focused, practically meditating. I was trying to wake myself up through sheer force of will. Trying to feel Angie 'strengthening my consciousness.' But I was never sure how much I was actually feeling and how much I was imagining. Even reality was blurry here in my little pocket.

But it was always painless. So the moment I felt a sharp pang in my chest, all my muscles tingling, I knew it was the real thing. Angie had come through.

The haze began to fade, and I tried to slow my heartbeat. I was waking up.

The first thing I was aware of from the 'outside' was beeping. I was hooked up to some machine. But no one came running as it recorded my return to consciousness. It took a minute to pry my eyes open, and then, as I'd expected, I woke to a darkened room. Whatever test they'd been performing today was over. I was alone.

I tried to move, but even just turning my head was a struggle. Clearly, their sedatives were still at full strength. I was being kept awake through the power of supernatural intervention.

I stopped trying to force my muscles to move when I heard muted voices just outside the door, instead focusing all my efforts on listening.

"Don't you think it might be time to focus on the memory problem instead?" came the first voice.

"No," Miyako answered sharply. She sounded frustrated and exhausted. "We've made close to no progress on the matter of her missing chakra network. You know how I feel about leaving things unfinished."

"With all due respect, Ma'am, this isn't about you." Whoever her assistant was, he was bold, I had to give him that. "I understand your reasoning for keeping her comatose like this, but we can't keep it up indefinitely. The patient's body will begin to deteriorate. She's been unconscious long enough for us to be sure that her missing chakra isn't some trick she's willfully keeping up. I don't really understand it… But it doesn't seem to be putting her in any immediate danger. Let's not do her in ourselves, shall we? At least the memory situation will require some participation on the patient's part. I say let her recuperate for a while—let her body return to its natural state—and then we can go back to analyzing her chakra mystery."

By the time his speech was over, I had plenty to think about. Was that it then? Had Minato handed me over to be their lab rat?

I didn't have much time to contemplate this before being pulled back into my own mental space. Miyako had chosen to come check on me rather than answer, and Angie had apparently not wanted to blow our cover. Or so I thought… until my eyes adjusted to the haze and I found my guardian angel lying on the indistinct floor, panting from exhaustion.

"Woah. What happened to you?" I asked, crouching down beside her.

"I told you, we're connected," she answered breathlessly, a little indignant. "Keeping you awake in spite of outside interferences isn't easy. I ran out of energy."

"When do you think you could do it again?"

"Not even a 'thank you'?!" she exclaimed a little more energetically.

"Angie, focus!" I berated her, knowing full well that I was the unreasonable one here. "You're supposed to be _guarding my life_, right? Do you have any idea what they're doing to my body out there?" And from the sound of it, they were about to move on to my brain.

"I know, I know," she sighed. "Just give me a minute."

The problem was… a minute in here could be days out there.

**…**

Luckily, I didn't have to wait for Angie to return to full power. I woke up of my own accord what I estimated to be about a week later. Miyako must have finally agreed to move on to my memory. It was no accident that I was suddenly conscious. They weren't sedating me nearly as heavily.

Nurse Miyako made her entrance just a few seconds after I opened my eyes. (I was starting to rethink her title. 'Doctor' or 'head medic' was probably more accurate.) She was carrying a folder and avoiding my eyes once again.

"I've already taken scans of your brain," she greeted me. "There's no obvious damage. But we thought the amnesia might be trauma-induced anyway. I'd like to try a cognitive interview today."

"What's the date?" I demanded, my voice croaky from disuse. If she was going to skip the pleasantries, so would I.

"A cognitive interview," she continued, ignoring me, "relies on a person's senses to help them recall important memories. I hope if we can recreate the scene of the massacre, you'll start to remember everything else."

I glared at her from where I lay in the hospital bed. And to think, I'd started to like Miyako. But even through my anger, I was a little panicked. I'd suspected I wouldn't be able to play the amnesia card forever, but I'd hoped to at least hold onto it long enough for everyone to kind of just forget I had no past to speak of. Okay, yeah, maybe that had been a little optimistic. But I hadn't wanted to be exposed this way.

"Are you ready to begin?" Miyako asked, finally looking up from her folder. Her eyes gave nothing away.

I didn't relax my glare at all. "Not until you answer my question."

She sighed. "Don't do this, Kani."

"_Me_?" I spat viciously. "I'm the one strapped to a hospital bed!"

Miyako sighed again. "I told them you wouldn't go along with this."

She walked briskly over to my bed and started fiddling with my IV. A second later, I lost consciousness again.

**…**

The last time I woke up in that hospital room, it was immediately evident that something had changed. The room and hallway outside it were both dark, lit only by those emergency lights that never go out. It was eerily quiet too. I turned my head and realized that I had not awoken because the nurses had purposely reduced the dosage of sedatives I was being given, but because no one had changed the bag, and I'd run out. None of the conclusions I was jumping to were very cheery.

A second later, a resounding _BOOM!_ shook the entire building. I jolted upward in bed. And a second later… All hell broke loose.

**Review please!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I'm sure you all know what's coming in the next chapter. **


	10. Chapter Nine

**More than a year, nine chapters, and a prologue in and we're just now getting to the real plot… About damn time, I know. Thank you so much to everyone who's followed and favorited and reviewed and stuck with me this far!**

**And thank you for reviewing chapter eight: **lizyeh2000, Tanner Clark, **and **taran taran**!**

**Chapter Nine**

Just as I got my bearings back, it all went to shit. And I don't mean, like, a nurse came in with some bad news or I started really feeling the effects of all those tests Miyako was performing on me. I mean the room exploded.

One second I was sitting up in bed, the next the bed had flipped over with me still in it. I crashed to the floor as that same violent tremor toppled everything else in the room. Not that I had much time to take stock of the destruction. In almost the exact same second, the room had filled with billowing clouds of dust and dirt and debris. I tried to use the bed to shield myself as much as possible, but even so, when I brought an arm up to cover my mouth, what felt like a jagged shard of rock slashed through my skin.

I continued to shake long after the destruction moved on to other sections of the village. I had undoubtedly just woken up in the middle of the Nine Tails attack. I tried to calm myself down enough to think this through logically. Miyako's experiments had sapped me of the strength I'd built up in the past few months of being healthy. I was now bruised and bleeding… All in all, my odds didn't look good.

When the dust had settled and I was finally able to raise my head above the overturned bed, I found myself looking… outside. What appeared to be roughly half the hospital was now a field of rubble. The split had literally been right through my hospital room. I'd been _that_ close to dying for a second time.

I could hear the crashes, explosions, and—worst of all—the screams continuing on. Thankfully, getting more and more distant. It took more than one attempt to get to my feet. It wasn't just the shock and fear. I'd been in a coma for about a month. My muscles were shaking from disuse.

I stumbled a few steps, tried to catch myself on what was left of the wall… but missed spectacularly. I crashed to the floor, caught myself on my bad arm, and cried out loudly. There was no response. The rest of the hospital must have been evacuated long before the Nine Tailed Fox had destroyed half of it.

A sudden swell of anger pushed me back to my feet. I cursed Miyako under my breath. Surely, it had been her call to leave me here for dead. And to think, I'd started to think Miyako was pretty cool.

I finally made my way past what was left of the wall, and then I was outside. It was a dismal sight. There was still enough smoke to obscure the sky. I wasn't having an easy time moving my feet. I did my best to trudge around the biggest pieces of debris. But I wasn't making much progress.

I reached the edge of the field of debris only to drop to my knees. It wasn't that I _couldn't _go on. But I was exhausted. All of my muscles hurt. And it looked like the real danger had moved away from my section of town.

This was a disaster. Sure, maybe I hadn't been the most proactive of dimension-crossing travelers, but how had it all gone so wrong?

I had just started to relax, build up enough strength to push forward again, when someone appeared at my side. I must admit to letting out a little scream, and I'm sure I looked every bit the pathetic, ruffled, shocked survivor. I was looking up into the face of a medic nin. She appeared almost as ruffled as I was and impatient, to boot.

"Can you walk?" she asked gruffly, without preamble. I couldn't really hold a grudge for her tone. I knew well enough that there were a million other places she needed to be right now.

"Yeah," I muttered, forcing myself back to my feet.

"Not fast enough," she muttered back, and before I realized what was happening, the medic had swept me off my feet, and then the only thing I was aware of was the wind rushing past us. Even if I had been able to see, I hadn't been out in the village enough since my arrival to be able to tell where we were going. And yet, I wasn't exactly surprised when she dropped me at the top of one of the stone faces and was gone again a second later. I could see the entrance to one of the village's safehouses, another medic nin frantically gesturing me over.

We were a lot closer to the action around here than the hospital was. I couldn't hear anything but the ensuing destruction. It was almost like the entire universe was shaking. Even so, I managed to get to my feet and dart inside. The new medic closed the door firmly behind me.

"You're the last one for tonight. We're already at capacity," he murmured, sounding stressed but much more personable than my last guide. The door had opened into a cliffside hallway. The medic silently healed the wound on my arm before leading me forward. At the very end was a guard and an extremely crowded room.

I was surprised to see that I wasn't the worst for wear here. I squeezed myself in between the wall and a mother holding her two children close. I had the unfortunate knowledge of how this night would end, but at least I'd been unconscious for most of the horror. How long had they been squished together down here?

It soon became apparent that our guard and medic were really only here to keep the peace whenever someone got too hysterical. It was their job to prevent mass panic. It only took a few minutes of being cooped up in here, the sounds of our collective misery interrupted only by the periodic, deafening explosions, before I started to think I would've been better off out on the edge of the battlefield. I was gonna go crazy in here…

_No, _I told myself as a baby started wailing loudly. _Calm down. _

I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the hard wall. I forced myself to be clearheaded. I'd spent fifteen years among the terminally ill. I could recognize the moment when you needed to stop kidding yourself and realistically take stock of a situation.

I accepted that this was it. I was locked in here with the rest of these refugees until the danger was over. I'd fucked up. My chance to save Minato and Kushina had passed. I couldn't afford to wallow in that. But still, I couldn't help but shed a few tears for the two who had so graciously taken me in. Minato and Kushina had been better to me than I'd deserved. Their deaths were truly a tragedy.

I jumped and my eyes flew open when I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was the mother I'd noticed earlier when I'd first sat down. Despite all the noise and terror, her children seemed to have fallen asleep. The woman was looking at me with kind eyes, and I was suddenly very aware of the tears that were still slipping down my face. I hurriedly wiped them away.

The woman didn't say a word. She just reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a length of string. It took me a moment to understand why she was offering it to me. Then I looked down at myself. I was dressed only in the extremely loose hospital gown I'd woken up in. I wasn't exactly flashing anybody, but this gown didn't encourage much movement, either. I smiled gratefully at the woman, gathered up the gown's material around myself toga-style, and then tied it there with the string as tightly as possible.

The woman gave a little sigh and tried to settle back without bumping into the person behind her. Disasters like this could bring out the worst—or the best—in everyone. I was sure this woman had done whatever she could for everyone around her. I silently wished her the best before closing my eyes again and settling back into my own mind.

Okay. So Minato and Kushina were dead. There was nothing I could do about that now. But there was no denying that I owed them everything. So. What _could_ I do?

The answer came to me almost immediately, and the thought made my insides twist uncomfortably. But I had already resigned myself to my fate a second later. No. I would _not _chicken out of the only real thing I could do for them now. I'd survived _death_. I tried to tell myself there wasn't anything I couldn't handle now. But if this was the path my life was going to walk from here on out, I needed to get my shit in order first.

I tried to relax all of my muscles and reach into the darkness in my mind. I hadn't had an abundance of practice contacting my guardian angel. In fact, I'd spent quite a lot of time and energy avoiding her. But now, when I'd finally managed to block out everything around me, I called out into the mental void, "Angie!"

I didn't have to wait long before she began to fade into existence before me. I still wasn't entirely sure how this connection between us worked, but she seemed to have some idea of what I wanted with her. She was just a little too timid. Then again, I suppose I _did_ have a history of being a little abusive towards her. "You called?"

"We need to talk." My voice came out sounding firm, which was reassuring… given that I didn't seem to have a physical body in this mental space. I supposed I was technically everywhere—it was _my_ mind we were floating around in.

Angie waited patiently while I gathered my thoughts back together. "Before I went to the hospital, you tried bringing me back to life again, didn't you? I heard your argument with your superior."

It wasn't pure bluff. I had pieced together what I had heard of their conversation and made a few assumptions as to who she'd been speaking to. And Angie appeared shocked enough to say I'd guessed right.

"I thought… I mean, things were getting pretty bad here."

"I know," I said, and I wasn't even a little angry, to tell the truth. I was pretty hard on her, but I knew Angie meant well. Even if, in the process of trying to restore me to my old life, she'd nearly killed me again. "And I appreciate it, but I don't want that anymore. This stops now. Agreed?"

I 'woke up' a second later, opening my eyes. I wasn't sure how much time had passed, but no one seemed to have moved much. My eyes drifted to our guard. He seemed impatient and antsy, and I couldn't blame him. But after a second or two, I also noticed that the sound seemed to have died down outside. I didn't have to wait much longer before the guard and I both heard the sound of footsteps out in the hallway. We both perked up a little, but no one else seemed to have noticed it yet. And when the owner of those footsteps reached us, it was none other than Kakashi.

"The battle is over. The refugees are free to go. Tell anyone whose home has been destroyed to gather in front of the Hokage's headquarters." The hallway was shadowy, but I'd recognize that voice anywhere.

The guard nodded and began wading through the refugees to find the medic, and I stood up. I could see just enough of Kakashi to know he was shocked to see me. I slipped out into the hallway and pulled him aside before anyone else realized what was going on and the stampede started.

"Kani," he said, surprised enough to let me push him around.

I didn't beat around the bush. "I need you to take me to the Third Hokage."

"The Third?" he repeated, his one showing eyebrow raised.

I didn't have time to explain how I already knew Minato and Kushina were dead. This mission I'd assigned myself was near-impossible as it was. Kakashi may be my one chance to actually make this meeting possible.

"Yes, the Third." I did my best to keep my voice from wavering. "I know about Minato and Kushina, and I promise I'll explain everything to you someday, but right now, I have to see the Third, and you're the only one who can get me there."

I had no idea how I was going to keep that promise, but I would worry about that later. In the end, I would never be sure what exactly convinced Kakashi to help me. Maybe it was because I'd never been so earnest with anyone in my life and he could tell. Maybe he realized that I was totally at his mercy here—I had no power on my own. This step of the plan hinged entirely on my reliance on him. Or perhaps it was just because Kakashi had clearly been through hell tonight. He'd just lost two of the few people he still truly cared about, and he was continuing to work like this was just another mission. Granted, it was part of his job—to endure—but still.

Whatever his reasoning, Kakashi gave me one curt nod before sweeping me off my feet and whisking me away.

**…**

We reappeared on a rooftop at the edge of the battlefield. It had to be a miracle this place was still standing. I only had time to glance around for a second before Kakashi ushered me through a door that brought us down into the building. I wasn't sure where we were, exactly, but clearly this building was being used as an emergency meeting place, because ninja who didn't spare us a second glance kept rushing past as Kakashi led me down one hallway after another.

At last, he stopped before a door that didn't seem any different from any of the other doors we'd passed on the way here. I never would have been able to navigate this place. Gotta love that ninja training. Kakashi motioned for me to stay behind him before knocking crisply on the door and then entering. He gave a short bow. "Lord Third."

We were in luck. The Third Hokage was alone. He must have been taking a breather from giving orders and trying to plan the village's recovery. When he turned around to see who had interrupted his moment of peace, he looked older than I'd ever seen him. Older than he would look in a few years, ironically. It occurred to me that this was the first time we were actually meeting face-to-face. And I was about to make one hell of a first impression.

"Kakashi," he acknowledged quietly. "Have you done what I asked?"

"Yes, sir," he said. The Hokage seemed to notice me at the same time that I noticed something else. The room was dim, but I could see a basket sitting on the far counter, and in that basket, I could just make out the now-sleeping form of a little boy who could only be Naruto. Damn. He was so small… But I couldn't start having second thoughts now.

I turned back to see the Hokage was fixated on me. "You must be Kani. Minato spoke kindly of you." He paused. "I'm sorry to say—"

"I know," I interrupted him. "I need to talk to you about that."

"Other living arrangements will be made for you." If he was surprised by this announcement, he didn't let it show. "You are not the only one in need of new housing."

"It's not about me, sir. Well, not really. I want to talk about Naruto." I could feel Kakashi's eye on my back. He was probably wondering what he'd gotten himself into by agreeing to be my escort.

"Naruto," the Hokage repeated, his face blank.

"I need to know what's going to happen to him." I tried to keep my voice firm, though I knew I couldn't be a very intimidating sight, in my hospital gown and bare feet.

The Hokage ducked his head and clasped his hands behind his back. "Arrangements are being made for that as well."

"I want to take care of him." It was a bold statement, and saying it aloud made my knees shake a little, but I was determined to stay strong.

There was a long moment of silence. At last, the Hokage said, "That… is not possible."

"Why not?" I demanded, despite how many obvious answers there were to this question. Kakashi put a hand on my shoulder as a gesture of restraint, but I shook him off.

"Becoming a newborn's caretaker…" he seemed almost at a loss as to _why_ my request was absurd, but he got the words out all the same. "It's a very serious commitment."

"I know," I told him. "I wouldn't ask for something like this lightly."

The Hokage's voice was quiet. "You've just lost the closest thing to a mother and father that you had… Not long after losing the real thing. You may not be in the best mindset to make a decision like this."

"With all due respect, sir," I said, starting to lose my patience, "neither are you."

"Kani," Kakashi hissed behind me, but I ignored him.

"Your wife died out there tonight too, right?" The Hokage remained impassive, and I tried to remain calm. "Look. I owe everything to Minato and Kushina. And I may not be the most noble or selfless person in the world, but it's not just for them."

He followed my eyes to where Naruto lay sleeping. I had a few misgivings about revealing so many of my cards, but I had to take a chance. When I spoke next, my voice was very quiet. "I know about the Fox. Kushina explained the basic concept." My only outright lie. "All that energy has to go somewhere. Presumably into someone else… I'm willing to bet Minato locked it up inside of Naruto, right? And I'm sure you want to keep that quiet, but do you really think something this huge will remain secret?"

The Hokage's eyes had sharpened at my first mention of the Fox. And I'd felt Kakashi stiffen beside me as I'd continued to 'guess' correctly. Very calmly, the Hokage asked, "Are you meaning to threaten me?"

"What? _No_," I exclaimed, exasperated. "I_ mean_ that when this gets out, Naruto's going to become the village pariah. Look me in the eyes and tell me you're not going to just dump him with some orphanage where he won't be welcome."

The old man did meet my eyes, but he said nothing.

"Please," I said, softening my voice as much as possible. "I know you've got a tough job and just want what's best for the village. But you have to know what happens to people who grow up ostracized by their peers and without a single person to rely on. I don't want that for him, and it's not good for the village's safety, if you want to think about it that way. Please. I'm the closest thing he's got to family, and I'm willing to take him in. I _want_ to be there for him. I owe it to Minato and Kushina. And so do you."

He was quiet for a long time when I was done. But at last, he nodded. I could have cried.

I could hear him continuing to plan behind me. How we wouldn't be able to stay in his parents' home. How I'd be under close surveillance and there was still of slew of stuff to go over that had to do with secrecy and legality… But I didn't care just yet. I crossed the room and carefully picked up Naruto for the first time, and my new life began.

**Review please!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**Damn. We made it guys. For a while there, I was starting to think I'd never actually get around to the plans that spurred this story in the first place. I know this is far from the first OC-raises-a-main-character fic, but I'm really excited to continue, and I hope you all are excited for what's to come. Thank you for reading!**


	11. Chapter Ten

**Sorry for the delay on this one, and I feel like this chapter is going to be a little shorter than usual. I've kind of had to force myself to write lately, to be honest. I've reached what I consider to be the dry season of the school semester. We're far enough in for the excitement to have worn off, yet the end is still out of reach… So I'm running a little low on motivation at the moment. **

**It'll be addressed (eventually) in the chapter, but note also that there is a time skip between this chapter and the last. I know you were looking forward to some baby Naruto fluff, lizyeh200… I can't say there will be no fluff… but you may have to settle for toddler Naruto at youngest. I honestly didn't have much to write for the baby years, so I kind of just summed them up. **

**Thank you for reviewing chapter nine: **lizyeh2000 **and **Tanner Clark**!**

**Chapter Ten**

The next three years were the hardest I'd ever experienced. I don't believe anyone is ever _really_ ready to become a parent for the first time, and I was just learning to take care of _myself_. But I kept my word. And I did my best to convince myself it was what Minato and Kushina would have wanted.

We had to move into a different, smaller apartment, but I didn't really mind. A new place helped get me into the mindset of a new life. And this apartment didn't hold any reminders of Minato and Kushina.

This apartment was… odd. The building was so far out of the way that it had sustained no damage during the attack. I got the impression that no one had lived here before, likely due to the construction mistakes. There were two bedrooms… and one room that looked like it might have been intended as a third. Or maybe a storage closet. It was small, and the walls weren't perfectly parallel. One side seemed to veer out… and jut into the kitchen. It was a bit like the rooms were all fighting for space. But I liked the place, all the same.

We were given a set allowance each month. Money would be tight, but the Third made sure we had enough to get by. For now anyway. I would have to find a job once Naruto was in school all day. Which was fine by me. I didn't want to owe him any more than was necessary.

And then, of course, there was the biggest change of all.

Naruto. It had only taken a few days before it became impossible to see him as the hero of some story. Right now, the baby that took so much of my time, energy, and sleep held little to no resemblance to the teenager he would become. There were some similarities, of course. The smile, for one. And I supposed Naruto was destined to be loud at any age, but especially in the beginning… Babies were just so helpless. I don't think I'd ever truly appreciated that before I couldn't leave the room without Naruto's piercing cries filling the apartment.

I'd never had anything so wholly dependent on me. It was terrifying most of the time. One fuck up on my part and this tiny being I'd adopted could be irreversibly damaged. But it wasn't all awful. Regardless of the crying fits, the extremely early mornings, the potty training… there was something endearing about being the first person a child looked for each morning. The way his face lit up when he saw me each day, the undisputable knowledge that he loved _me_ more than any other person in this universe… It made it all worth it. At the very least, it was enough to convince me that I'd never truly loved anything before.

**…**

When Naruto first started talking, I made sure there would be no "Mommy" or "Mom" or even "Mother" in this household. I may have been his parent for all intents and purposes, but I wasn't ready for that acknowledgement just yet. Granted, we really only left the apartment for necessities those first few years, but once we did start going out into the world a bit more, I didn't need the looks I was sure to get from some kid half my age calling me his mother.

In any case, once Naruto started talking, he _never stopped_. I suspected it was the speed at which the words spewed from his mouth that made it so hard for him to say 'Connie'. Most often, he settled for "Sis," which was fine by me. To be honest, Naruto still had trouble pronouncing _most_ words. His speech always seemed to snag over the hard consonants, which the soft ones all blended together. I knew the anime used Naruto and Kushina's catchphrases as a punch line, but I was starting to think he might have an actual speech impediment that couldn't be cured with love.

But I wasn't a doctor. I figured if he was still this bad when it came time for him to enroll in school, then I would look into professional assistance. For now, I let him babble away, his words all running into each other and generally morphing into a stream of noise.

I sighed, snatching a (mercifully) empty cup from where Naruto had knocked it to the floor earlier in the afternoon. I tossed it into the sink to deal with later, only to wince at the loud sound, reflexively glancing back towards Naruto's room. I'd finally gotten him to sleep just moments before.

Today had been particularly trying. The fun at started at 4 AM when Naruto had come bounding into my bedroom with his usual overwhelming energy. Next had followed the routine mess that was breakfast, the meltdown over bath time, and the struggle to get him dressed for the day. (And then to keep him in those clothes.) The chaos of each day had ceased to surprise me. Life with a toddler was never boring, but I wasn't feeling quite so out of my depth these days.

We were running low on groceries again. I'd come to dread these days. Naruto was enough of a handful just running around the apartment and the little courtyard outside. Trying to keep him reined in around the marketplace was a nightmare. But there wasn't much to be done. He didn't have any babysitters, and we needed food. So a little after midday, we headed out into the village.

I had a feeling today would remain etched in my mind for a long time. There weren't any major disasters, though Naruto kept me plenty busy. (He loved being outside and would quickly disappear in a crowd if I didn't keep a close eye on him.) But it wasn't Naruto's antics that made this day stand out. No… This day would be remembered because this was the first time I saw it.

That look…

I'd taken Naruto out in public before, of course, but I'd kept him a lot closer. Today I let him play with his newfound independence a little. I made sure he didn't wander too far, but I wasn't juggling bags just to have a guiding hand on him at all times. Go ahead. Call me irresponsible. But at three years old, Naruto was finally starting to resemble the boy who would one day save this world. And I wasn't the only one who was starting to notice.

It wasn't that unusual to see shinobi mixed in with the other civilians in the marketplace. Ninja needed groceries too, after all. I didn't recognize this one, but he must have been high enough up on the ladder to know the secret.

Naruto was at the next stall, laughing giddily at the animals in their cages. I'd just paid for a week's supply of produce. When I turned to move him along—towards the refrigerated items, the last stop on our little shopping adventure—I caught sight of someone else watching him across the street.

Naruto was oblivious, thankfully. But the look of shocked loathing on the man's face made a sudden protective rage burn in my very core. I immediately strode over and grabbed Naruto's hand, leading the confused boy away. I shot a glare over my shoulder, but the shinobi was already gone.

I couldn't even answer Naruto the first time he asked me what was wrong. The anger had been replaced with an awful falling feeling. Sure, he was oblivious now. But I knew he wouldn't be forever. What good would a single loving parent or sister be, really, against an entire village that despised his very existence? All this time, I'd been comforted by the thought that I was making a difference. Now I was left feeling helpless in the face of all that I could not protect him from.

**…**

I sighed again, slumping down into a chair at the table. Our one window was positioned just so that the moonlight now shone across the kitchen. I hadn't bothered to turn any of the lights on when the sun had set. It was a beautiful night. And I'd come to love these dark, quiet moments.

I glanced down briefly at the book in front of me on the table before pushing it away. I didn't have the energy to work on my penmanship tonight. The mechanics of my reincarnation were still largely a mystery to me. My first language seemed to have been swapped for Japanese, luckily, but I'd been startled to learn, upon my first venture out into the marketplace for supplies, that I couldn't read any of the signs. I'd set out to correct this immediately, but this was much easier said than done, particularly with a baby to look after. I was starting to doubt my inclusion in this world would help Naruto out much in this regard. I could get by… albeit with some difficulty. And kanji was still a mystery to me.

I let my head fall back, staring out the window at the stars. It was hard to believe it had been three years already… Angie had kept her word. I hadn't heard a peep from my guardian angel in all this time. I wasn't sure whether I regretted this or not. It hadn't been long after she'd made this promise that I'd started to feel very alone.

I'd only been fifteen, and a young fifteen at that. I didn't know how to take care of a baby. There were some nights—Naruto crying in one room, me in another—where it had only been my stubborn pride that had kept me from going to the Hokage and admitting defeat, that I really couldn't handle this.

It was times like this, when things got really bad, that I started thinking of my own mother. Remembering all the times I'd been a selfish little brat had only made me cry harder. She would never know how much I appreciated her now. I couldn't imagine all she'd been through for me. Granted, she'd had a better support system, but at least Naruto was healthy. What good were all the husbands and parents and siblings in the world when faced with the knowledge that you child was going to die anyway?

I wondered how she was doing now… I didn't know how to calculate the time difference between our worlds exactly. How long had I been dead in their time? For all I knew, my baby brother could be an adult already.

My eyes refocused on the stars once more. The seasons in Konoha weren't identical to the seasons back home, but we were reaching the end of summer, and it was starting to show. August was coming to a close.

With a start, I realized it was the twenty-ninth. I was eighteen today.

Everything else seemed to melt away. I'd made it. For the longest time, the idea of reaching adulthood had been little more than a fever dream. Now it was something I could take for granted.

I never would have thought my eighteenth birthday would sneak up on me. I had so many other things on my mind these days. Our allowance didn't really cover flashy gifts, but I always tried to make a big deal out of Naruto's birthdays. He wasn't yet old enough to consider that I should have birthdays as well. But I didn't mind. All the same…

_Happy birthday to me_, I thought silently.

And many more to come.

**Review please!**

**I don't own Naruto. **

**Eh, I guess it didn't end up being too much shorter than usual. As a side note, I originally meant for her birthday to be in November, but then I realized the ages wouldn't match up, so I had to make some hasty revisions. Thank you for reading!**


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Woo! Exams are officially over! This story is starting to feel a little disjointed… This is another very internal chapter, centered more around Connie adjusting to her new life as Naruto's pseudo-mother than the actual events in their lives… Those will come later. **

**Because there's another little time skip, to keep everyone on the same page: In this chapter Naruto is almost six, and Connie is almost twenty-one.**

**Thank you for reviewing chapter ten, **Tanner Clark**, **lizyeh2000**, **taran taran**, and **Clarilyn!

**Chapter Eleven**

"Naruto Uzumaki, you get your ass down here right now!" I got a few dirty looks from the other parents in the park, but I didn't care. I scowled back at a few of them before turning back to the tree in front of me. There was snickering from the branches up above me before, with a little grunt, the blond boy dropped down to a crouch in front of me.

I did my best to remain stern, but I couldn't help being a little impressed. He hadn't undergone any official training yet, but already he was performing little stunts like this. He may not have been the most graceful kid around, but they always came across seeming practically effortless. Once again, I had to wonder if the ability to drop from high places and land without injury came from something in their genetic makeup in this universe. Or maybe it was just Naruto and his… enhancements provided by housing the Nine Tailed Fox.

None of the other kids seemed to be performing ninja tricks yet. Although, that could be because their parents were better at restraining them. Quite a few of them had gathered to whisper darkly about us, like children on the playground. But Naruto, proudly holding aloft the Frisbee he'd retrieved from the tree, didn't appear to notice.

I'd been trying to take him out into the village more as he got older, but it didn't seem to be making much of a difference. My presence seemed entirely inconsequential. At worst, it gave the other parents another reason to encourage their kids to stay away from my little brother. So not only was Naruto not making friends, everyone was avoiding me as well.

The day I had been dreading had come. Naruto had started to take notice of the way he was being shut out from the rest of society. I'd tried to counter this by being with him at all times. As a result, there had been a few angry outbursts, but he usually made a valiant effort to act like we were the only ones in the crowd when the evil looks and the whispering got really bad. Of course, he was starting to get to the age where he would have preferred some friends his own age, but he would have to make do with what he could get. At the end of the day, at least I could ensure that he wasn't completely alone.

I gave up on my plans of scolding him as my annoyance at the group of muttering mothers grew. I tried to remind myself that, unorthodox as my own parenting style may be, I _was_ the kid's role model. He was quick-tempered enough without being encouraged by any losses of control on my part.

So I took a little red disk from him, and he took off at a run, laughing. I tried not to take too much notice of how the other kids quickly got out of his way as he ran to the other side of the field.

"Over here, Sis!" he called when he finally stopped, an impossibly far distance away. Naruto could sometimes remind me of a large dog who didn't understand the implications of his size. We didn't all have superhuman strength. There was no way I could throw it that far.

All the same, I spun it as hard as I could. My aim turned out to be a more pressing weakness than my strength. The Frisbee veered outrageously off-course, arcing over the slide. Naruto didn't seem to mind. He chased after it, shrieking with laughter.

I jumped at the sound of much softer laughter beside me. I turned to see Mikoto Uchiha standing at my shoulder. She was a full head taller than I was—my newfound health could only do so much to counter a lifetime of stunted growth. But her eyes were kind. The Uchiha matriarch possessed a quiet sort of dignity. Even so, her beauty was even more striking than Kushina's had been. Peaceful as Sasuke's mother was, she was an intimidating presence. Speaking of…

I glanced around as subtly as possible. I didn't see Sasuke anywhere. Mikoto held a bag of groceries in each hand. She must have taken a detour on her way home.

"So much energy," she murmured, her eyes still on Naruto. Then, in an even softer voice, "That's Kushina's son, isn't it?"

I didn't answer, eying her silently. I did try to keep my gaze from being too critical. I had to wonder. Was it only her position in her own family that had kept her from taking in her friend's child? Or would she have been hesitant to raise the Nine Tails jinchuriki alongside the two sons she already had? I wanted to think the best of Mikoto, but I guess we'd never know.

She didn't appear offended by my silence. At last, she turned those kind eyes on me. "He must be excited for tomorrow."

She couldn't have been more right. Naruto had spoken of little else for weeks. He'd passed the medical examination and the Hokage had dropped in personally to approve his application. (And to check up on us, I'm sure.) And now, tomorrow was the entrance ceremony for this year's new students at the ninja academy. I knew I was being ridiculous, but I had to admit to being a little apprehensive.

I nodded. "Ecstatic. Yours too?"

Her smile grew even warmer. "I don't think Sasuke's thought of anything else since he could walk. He's with my older son right now. Training already."

There was something almost wistful about her expression. I always managed to forget that Mikoto had once been a ninja herself. As if to emphasize this point, Naruto chose that moment to chuck the Frisbee back our way. I didn't see it in time. The disk flew over my head and would have kept going if not for my companion. Mikoto's hand flew up, snatching the disk out of the air in a deft motion almost too fast for me to see. She handed it back to me and bent down to pick up her bag, which had remained perfectly upright when she'd let it fall to the ground, not a single item out of place.

"Well, I'd better be on my way." She paused. "I'm glad he has you. He looks happy."

And then she was gone, before I even had time to process her compliment.

I stared after her for a second, but Naruto was already calling for me. "Kani! Throw it back!"

So I obliged, leaving Mikoto to return to her own family.

**…**

Meeting Sasuke's mother had left me with plenty to think about. Naruto had been full of energy tonight, excited for what the next day would bring. By the time I finally got him to bed,_ I_ was exhausted, but I sat down in our darkened kitchen to sort through my thoughts before turning in for the night myself.

Our meeting had been brief, but not unpleasant. So why was I left feeling so unsettled? The answer came to be almost immediately, and I had to fight the urge to pretend it was anything other than my own insecurity.

Mikoto Uchiha was, without a doubt, the paragon of the perfect mother. It was hard to look at her and think of anything else. In the past, I'd always attributed this to bad character writing—because she was never going to be anything more to the story than Sasuke and Itachi's mom. But she was a real, multifaceted person in this world, just like the main characters. Just like her sons. Just like me. Except that even with a real past and real emotions and real opinions, her identity as a mother still shined through.

I would never be like that, not if I raised a hundred children. After nearly six years, I'd learned to go with the flow. To take it one day at a time. I tried to tell myself that I loved him, and that was all that really mattered. But more and more as he got older—who was I kidding? As he started to depend on me less—it was starting to feel like those were empty words meant to console the hopeless. I knew why I was really apprehensive about letting him out into the world amongst the other children. I was afraid of the day he looked at all of their proper families and realized he deserved more than I could give him.

I shook my head roughly. Good grief. I wasn't even twenty-one years old yet and here I was having a mid-life crisis. I wondered if this terrifying, lost feeling was just an inescapable part of being a parent. I supposed it must be. And this feeling that everyone else was privy to some secret guide of parenting expertise must be all in my head too. Or so I hoped anyway.

**…**

The morning of Naruto's entrance ceremony dawned bright and early. Very early. We were expected to be there at eight AM. Yeah, I know, that doesn't sound too unreasonable. We'd never had need for a regular schedule, okay?

All the same, Naruto was too tired to even be excited as I dragged him out of bed, armed him with some toast, and pushed him out the door. I was barely awake myself, but we made it there on time.

It was a rather simple affair. There was a big banner strung up over the entrance, and the kids were all marshaled into lines with military precision, but it really didn't come off as being a big deal. All the older students were in class as usual, like it was any other day.

At least the morning was cool. The Konoha ninja academy started in late June and wouldn't break for more than a week at a time for the next six years, when graduation spit them out into the real world. Their curriculum was designed to train them under all weather conditions. On the other hand, the civilian school was structured a bit more like the schools in my birth world. Those kids were out for the summer, their schedule based on old farming practices. Which, admittedly, were a bit more relevant here.

I have to admit to zoning out a bit as the Hokage made his speech welcoming the new inductees. It was a pretty typical introduction. He welcomed them all, talked about how they would be the future of the village… I caught sight of Naruto in the middle line, still standing but fast asleep.

I took to watching the spectators instead. I saw some proud smiles. Most of the interest was polite at best. But I saw quite a few frowns as well. These, no doubt, came from the civilian parents. Come to think of it, it was a wonder the ninja academy got any civilian students at all. What person who hadn't been raised in shinobi culture would willingly sign up their six-year-old—or in kids like Naruto's place, not even six-years-old—for a life of danger, little sympathy, and likely an early death? How on earth had meek little Sakura talked her parents into it?

Before I had time to really contemplate this, the speech was over. The crowd of parents surged forward to congratulate their kids, and Naruto was jostled awake by the movement and noise. With a wry smile, I weaved my way through the crowd. I finally made it to Naruto and ruffled his hair as he yawned. "Smooth, kid."

He gave me one of those wide smiles, so reminiscent of Kushina. "S'not my fault. The old man can be so _boring_! When does the training start?"

I put an arm around his shoulders and led him out of the thick of things. I didn't want to break it to him just yet that the "fun stuff" that he was looking forward to—crazy jutsu, dangerous missions, and all the glory that came with them—wouldn't come until much later. According to the little pamphlet that had been sent out—that he hadn't read, of course—their first year would be mostly theory and conditioning. Which was just as well. The teacher we were introduced do was ancient and didn't look like he could handle much more. But he was nice enough and told us that his student teacher would be helping him out once classes officially started the next day. I gave him a year, tops, before Iruka took over.

I still noticed a subtle divide between Naruto and the rest of his classmates. And several of the other teachers seemed relieved that Naruto hadn't ended up in their class. I tried to keep him distracted. His excitement returned as he began to speculate, loudly, about all they would learn. I knew he would soon come to dread his theory-heavy school days, but I didn't want anything to crush his enthusiasm just yet.

Of course, some of the distraction was for me. Naruto wasn't the only one facing new challenges come tomorrow. My 'dependent' was officially a student. Which meant that I could anticipate a long day of job hunting.

**Review please!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I know I haven't actually gone into much about their life together yet. That is sort of intentional. It's going to be something Naruto brings up in a later chapter, now that he's in class. I see it as one of those things where, before they're school-aged and surrounded by their peers, kids may not realize that some aspect of their home life isn't exactly the norm. Thank you for reading!**


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Only ten days since the last update? My winter break is going strong… Well, part of the quick update time may be because this chapter is actually a lot shorter than I'd originally intended it to be. I just ran into what felt like a really good place to end this chapter mid-way through writing it. On the bright side, this means I've got quite a bit of the next chapter already planned out.**

**Thank you for reviewing chapter eleven, **Tanner Clark**! (Seriously, your review kind of made my day, which may have been the leading motivation to get right to work on this one.) **

**Chapter Twelve**

The next morning arrived much sooner than I would have preferred. Don't get me wrong, raising a child like Naruto could be one stressful, panic-filled day after another, but I couldn't remember the last time I'd been so anxious about something so specific. I was twenty years old, and I'd never held a job. Many would say that being a stay-at-home mom is the hardest job of all, but that didn't help me much when preparing for job interviews. And the interviews would only come later. Today would be a day of going from shop to shop, filling out applications. And as far as I could figure, I'd have to go back to each store the next day to likely get rejected in person, due to there still not being telephones in this universe.

There were simply too many things to worry about. So I occupied myself with the one thing I'd gotten pretty good at—taking care of Naruto. He was the only person less prepared for the day than I was, and I only succeeded in getting him out of bed when he _fell_ out of it, struggling to reach for the blanket that I was holding carefully out of his arm's length. I couldn't imagine how he ever got to school on time without me. On second thought, he probably didn't.

He woke up a bit over breakfast and was chattering happily by the time we were on our way to the school. I noticed he smoothly slipped his hand out of mine before we were in sight of the building, but I didn't say anything.

The teachers for the first-years were all outside again for the first real day of classes to show their students to their classrooms. I found myself losing the internal battle to resist giving Naruto's new sensei the evil eye, but he didn't seem to notice… Which wasn't exactly reassuring. What else, I wondered, would escape his notice? And how much of it would be true oblivion?

But I didn't have all day to stand around worrying over whether the new adults in his life would or wouldn't take proper care of my son. Brother. Eh, you know what I mean. I had yet to find a truly fitting word for what Naruto was to me. At any rate, I had a meeting with the Hokage to get to.

I left Naruto alone so rarely, walking through the village by myself was bizarre. I felt like something was missing without the loud, energetic little boy at my side. But there was more than one unsettling thing about Naruto's absence. Many of the villagers couldn't be bothered to give me a second glance now that I was alone, which I had expected. But there were others… plenty of others who made it clear with their eyes alone that they knew exactly who I was, with or without the Demon Fox kid by my side. I did my best to hold my head high and ignore them. It was surprisingly harder to do now that I was alone. Because there was no denying it. All that negative energy was being directed at_ me_, completely separate from Naruto.

At least the Hokage's tower was a little better. I could tell myself they were all staring because it wasn't every day the Hokage was expecting a civilian. Which must have been at least partly true, because I made it upstairs with surprising ease. The only person to stop me was one of the two guards stationed on either side of the door to the Hokage's office.

And he didn't have time to do more than stretch an arm out to bar the entrance before the Third's voice floated out, "You may enter."

The Anbu guard slowly brought his arm back to his side, and I couldn't resist giving him a look that, okay, may have been a little haughtier than was necessary. But I stopped in my tracks as soon as I took my first good look at him.

He would have looked like any other member of the Anbu Black Ops… if not for the wild white hair sticking up over his mask and the one bright red eye staring out at the world. "Whoa," I said before I could stop myself. "Look at you."

His companion guarding the other door silently cocked his head, curious. This one was small, even shorter than me. So Itachi had passed his test, right on schedule.

"Problem?" Kakashi asked coolly, but I swear I could hear the weary sigh behind his words.

I brought a hand up to the top of my head and measured myself up against Kakashi. I only came up to the base of his neck now. "Look at you!" I said again, mildly impressed. "You look like an adult."

Itachi ducked his head in a way that made me suspect he was laughing, but the boy remained still and silent.

"It _has_ been six years," Kakashi pointed out in that nonchalant tone that made it impossible to tell what he was thinking. There was a moment of silence that allowed me to scrutinize him despite not really being able to see him. I wondered if I seemed any different to him. I supposed we were both a little more reserved, although only he looked the part. I expect teenaged Kakashi would have made some subtly snarky remark about how I hadn't grown at all. Not physically, at least.

I stared long enough for it to become awkward, but Kakashi didn't say anything else. This was all that was left between us, I realized. Silence. It wasn't like we'd been close, exactly, when we were younger, but the realization left me unexpectedly sad all the same.

At last, Itachi cleared his throat. "The Hokage is ready to see you, Ma'am."

His gentle prodding succeeded in redirecting my attention to the door before me. I did my best to shake off the sudden melancholia that had overtaken me and strode into the Hokage's office.

Speaking of people who hadn't changed in the past six years… Hiruzen looked the same as ever. The Third Hokage had checked in on us personally over the years a few times. Naruto was fond of him, but a measure of tension had remained between the two of us. I knew full well it was my fault. Some part of me just couldn't get over the indignance that had sprung up in me that first night I'd taken Naruto in. That he would have preferred to sentence Naruto to a life of near solitude… I did my best not to dwell on those thoughts when we were face-to-face, like we were now.

"Kani…" he greeted me quietly. "I'm sure you know why I wanted to speak with you?"

"Yeah, I know. I'd be out looking for a job now if you hadn't called me here." Clearly, I didn't quite succeed. I felt a little like a sulky, confrontational teenager again.

But the Hokage took my words with a generous display of grace. He seemed truly sympathetic. "The money will not be cut off completely. Not immediately. You understand, most of it is going towards Naruto's schooling now."

"I know." I did manage to soften my tone a bit. I was grateful for the little things the Hokage had done to try and make our lives together easier. I suspected all the times he'd checked in on us had held the additional purpose of making sure I was upholding my end of the bargain, but we hadn't really discussed the things I'd agreed to since that night. "Thank you."

His smile was a little sad. "How is Naruto?"

"He's great." The curtness was back. "Healthy and happy."

"I'm glad." His words were genuine. At least he didn't try to say he'd never doubted me.

I found myself sucked into a second slightly uncomfortable silence in an hour. There were so many things I wanted to discuss with Hiruzen. The patrols that I knew were still keeping an eye on us—as much for lingering suspicions as for our safety. All the things I'd been forbidden from telling Naruto. But I knew there was no point. He'd already bent to my will as much as he was going to, and we both had things to do today.

So with a cursory nod of acknowledgment, my meeting with the Hokage ended as abruptly as it had begun. Neither guard made a sound when I walked back out, but to my surprise, Kakashi casually fell into step beside me as I made my way back down the hall.

"You know," he said casually, as if we were on friendly terms like this, "you might want to be careful, talking to authority figures the way you do. Could get you into trouble someday."

"Don't you have a door to guard?" I asked pointedly.

Kakashi hadn't taken off his Anbu mask, yet still, his gaze somehow managed to pierce me. There was something inherently questioning about it, and a memory rose up, unbidden, of a younger, more desperate version of myself. Silence wasn't the only thing that remained between us, after all. I had promised him answers one day.

The thought sent a chill down my back that I tried to shake off with a burst of speed. I wasn't ready for the consequences of keeping that promise. Kakashi seemed to take the hint. He stopped at the top of the stairs, and I didn't look back.

**…**

The rest of the day passed much as planned. My meeting with the Hokage hadn't taken very long. The marketplace was just coming to life for the day when I arrived at the center of town. I went from one store to another, collecting applications. Very few shop owners received my request with any amount of warmth, which was disheartening. But only a few told me outright not to bother filling out the application at all. I wanted to believe that some of them honestly just didn't need extra help or that they were short-tempered because I'd arrived at the busiest time of the day, but I knew that wasn't always the case. I recognized the dark looks by now.

I returned home a few hours later, stitching my pride back together. I'd anticipated this, but that didn't make it any easier. I left my stack of papers on the kitchen table and set out to pick up Naruto from his first day of school.

It was a bit of a walk, living on the outskirts of town, and I found my thoughts turning to my encounters with Itachi and Mikoto. It wasn't like I didn't see members of the Uchiha clan on a regular basis—because I did. Even on the civilian side of things, the Uchiha were a very visible presence, being the police force and all. But, in the business of being a full-time caretaker to a little boy who loved to cause trouble, I hadn't given them—or their impending doom—much thought. Until now.

I'd felt stirrings of unease the previous day, which I'd chalked up to feelings of inadequacy when compared to Mikoto. But now it was starting to bloom into something more than that. I was suddenly struck by feelings I hadn't experienced since before I'd failed to save Minato and Kushina.

How responsible was I for their deaths, just because I knew they were coming? Knowledge was power, and with great power came great responsibility, but this wasn't just a cartoon anymore. Real life wasn't always as black and white as fictional justice. I knew the easy answer. That I should do whatever I had to in order to prevent the deaths of so many. But…

This logic may have been true back when I was trying to think through the best approach to preventing the deaths of Minato and Kushina. I'd had nothing to lose back then. Nothing but my own freedom, anyway. That wasn't the case anymore. If I got locked away now trying to explain how I knew about a future mission so secret it wouldn't even officially exist, Naruto really would be all alone. All the effort I'd put in these past six years would be for nothing. I couldn't let that happen. And it wasn't like I was well-connected enough to convince someone else to intervene for me. I already owed Kakashi one explanation.

So… even though I knew I still had time to think this through… I made a decision on that day. I chose not to act. I was left feeling a little numb in the aftermath of this decision. I did feel a little bad for Sasuke and Itachi and all the nameless innocents whose days were numbered, but I also found this decision surprisingly easy to live with. (For the moment, anyway. I suppose we'd see how well that held up once the deed was done.) I'd set my priorities almost six years ago. And now I—and the rest of the world—would have to live with the consequences.

**Review please!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I feel like I mentioned this in an earlier chapter's author note, but I feel like the writing for this story still has a ways to go. I haven't quite succeeded in fulfilling the 'Show, don't tell' rule of writing, but that should be coming up… The next chapter should see some more interaction between Connie and Naruto, which I know has also been sorely lacking in this story. Eh, that's just a little insight into my thoughts on the writing process. I really appreciate all the kind words you guys have left in your reviews, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**So… I definitely meant to have this chapter up a lot sooner. (Story of my life, right?) I'd forgotten just how time-consuming it was to be a full-time student. Hey, this'll be my first update of 2017! How has it been two years already? I need to get a move on with this story… **

**Thank you so much for your reviews on chapter twelve, **Tanner Clark, At Night We Rise, MusicOfMadness, **and **lizyeh2000**! And thank you, **Plouton **for reviewing some of the previous chapters! Much appreciated! I feel like I got a slew of new Favorites and Follows after the last chapter as well, and I appreciate those too! Thank you all! **

**Chapter Thirteen**

"Good morning, sunshine!" I shouted as loudly as possible, yanking Naruto's blanket off of him before he had a chance to latch on too tightly. I smiled down at him as he groaned and curled up in a ball. This parenting thing could be fun.

"I changed my mind," he grumbled, almost incoherent from where his face was pressed against his pillow. "I don't wanna go to school anymore."

"But do you still want to be a ninja?" I inquired, crossing the room to pull out clothes for him.

He scoffed, slowly dragging himself into a sitting position. "Of course."

"Well, then, tough luck, kid," I said brusquely. It did give me pause, though. What would I have done if he'd said no? Well, that wasn't the problem. I would support him in whatever he wanted to do as a civilian, of course. But what a bizarre thought. Talk about a way to immediately derail the story.

I brushed the crazy daydream aside. I could ponder that later… when I revisited all the places I'd picked up applications the day before. I couldn't say I was excited to continue my job search, but if I wasn't going to let Naruto shirk his responsibilities, I couldn't ignore mine. And so we both set about getting ready for the day—our new routine.

But I noticed on our walk that Naruto quickly started lagging behind. It wasn't from exhaustion—he'd been fully awake and alert once breakfast had been placed in front of him. But he'd become unnaturally quiet as soon as we'd stepped out of the house. And it got worse with every step we took closer to the academy. I had a feeling I knew what was on his mind, and I tried to broach the subject as casually as possible.

"So… You never really told me about your first day of school."

"Yeah, I did. It was boring… All lecture and stuff." But his eyes found the ground, and he kicked dejectedly at a pebble, sending it skittering away as we walked.

"All of it?" I prompted. "There was _nothing_ you liked?"

He just shrugged, still refusing to meet my eyes. I resisted a sigh. I would have to be a little more direct. "What about your classmates? Anyone interesting?"

"Yeah, I guess."

I stopped. The top of the Academy had just come into sight over the other buildings, and I knew I needed to address this before he could run off on me. Naruto had been studying the road so intently that he walked right into me. And when he looked up, that split second of surprise showed through to a sad, slightly lost look in his eyes. It pulled at my heart strings before he quickly masked it. Say what you will about Naruto's skills as a ninja early on. He was more adept at deception than most would ever realize.

"Okay, let's talk," I said, and I swore I could see an uncharacteristic weariness in his eyes. "How bad was it?"

"What did you expect? No one will talk to me. No one will even look at me." He kicked at the ground again, looking like a much older child. It was a disheartening sight, and I wondered if I would have to see six more years of it. Was there really nothing I could do for him? At what point did I need to let him fight his own battles?

I sighed, knowing my words would fall flat. "It's only been one day. Give it some time. They don't know you yet."

"Exactly," he said in a very small voice. "So why do they all hate me?"

He didn't pull away as I took his hand, silently cursing the Third for all the answers I wasn't allowed to give him. Naruto seemed to understand that I wasn't sure what else to say. In the blink of an eye, he wiped the beaten-down look from his face and grinned cheekily up at me. Not for the first time, I was relieved by his remarkable resilience.

"Well, whatever. C'mon, Sis, we're gonna be late!"

I let him pull me ahead, hoping he couldn't see that my own melancholy hadn't abated quite so easily. I knew it was important to let him experience these hardships, but it was beyond frustrating. There was nothing I hated more than feeling helpless.

We had reached the school. He made to run off, but I held tight to his hand until he turned back to face me, and I crouched down so we were on the same level.

"Listen," I said softly. He was still staunchly refusing to meet my eyes, knowing he hadn't fully escaped the pep talk. "It's only day two. Most of them probably don't have friends yet either. It'll get better."

He finally managed to dislodge his hand from my grasp. The blush on his cheeks was evident, but we both pretended it wasn't. "Yeah, yeah, I heardja the first time. Jeez."

We were both quiet for a moment, the shouts and laughter of the other kids filtering between us. At last, I ruffled his hair and stood back up. "I'll see you tonight, okay?"

He gave me one more toothy grin before bolting off. I remained where I was for a minute, watching him run across the yard and disappear inside the building. I only turned when he was out of sight, feeling a pair of curious eyes on me. Standing over by the trees was a familiar-looking kid. I suspected he'd been watching our entire interaction from the way he was continuing to scrutinize me now.

"What are you looking at?" I shot at him, though not too harshly.

Shikamaru didn't answer. He merely nudged Choji and the two scampered off, clearly not interested in a full-blown confrontation.

I had to smile a little before finally turning to leave. I was anticipating another long day. I stopped back at our apartment to pick up the stack of applications I'd filled out, trying not to linger on my less-than-elegant script, before setting out to retrace my steps. I dropped off the applications, one store after another, but none of the shopkeepers seemed inclined to look over them right away, so I moved on.

Dropping them off took half the time collecting them had. I was done before the day was half over and at a bit of a loss of what to do with myself. I strolled through the village as casually as I could, which as far as I could remember, wasn't something I'd ever done. Any time Naruto and I had ventured outside, it had been with a specific mission in mind. But now I was determined to make Konoha our home in a way it hadn't really been up to this point. I couldn't hide him—or myself—away from the world forever, judgmental glares or not.

Case in point. I was getting some of them now. But I ignored them today. I was stronger than the misguided opinions of a bunch of strangers. I had to be. I wasn't just living for myself anymore.

I wandered far enough to find myself in front of the hospital. The sight seemed to have an immediate grounding effect on me. My stomach twisted in a sickening way. I hadn't been back here since that night, and for just a moment, I saw the hospital as it had been during the Nine Tails attack—one half reduced to rubble. But the resulting shudder propelled me forward, not back. I strode into the hospital with some purpose unknown to me.

I didn't stop at the front desk. I kept moving, towards the patient rooms like I was here to visit someone specific. But my feet slowed as soon as I was out of sight of any hospital personnel. I wasn't sure what had drawn me inside. I'd been so heavily sedated, it wasn't like I would have been able to find my way back to where I'd been kept all those weeks. The room didn't even exist anymore. And there was no reason I should want to see it. The night hadn't exactly been a shining moment in my life. The horror of that night had revisited me in my nightmares on more than one occasion.

Still, I continued to pace slowly up and down the hallway. I didn't feel the need to explore the hospital any more thoroughly. The stairs were at the end of the hall, but I ignored them. I finally stopped with a sigh and put my hand on the wall, staring down the hall. There really wasn't anything for me here. I should go.

But for some reason, I couldn't. I noticed then that the wall felt strange under my fingertips. I studied it more closely and saw that the wall was uneven. With a start, I realized where I must be. The newer half of the building had been built right on to the half that hadn't been destroyed.

I was still staring at the wall like an idiot when I heard the surprised, "Oh!" behind me. I turned to see a woman standing in a doorway. She was old enough to be my mother, though quite a bit… rounder than my biological one had been. She looked remarkably… normal for this world—brown hair, dark eyes. A civilian for sure. But there was also something distinctly familiar about her that I couldn't quite put my finger on.

She seemed stunned to see me as well. At last, she said, "It's been a long time, hasn't it? The years just seemed to fly by."

The elusive memory sank back into place then. I'd just been thinking of that night… And here was the woman I'd met in the shelter. The mother with her two young children, doing what she could to keep everyone calm. She saw the shocked recognition settle over my face and smiled a familiar kind smile.

"We never really spoke that night," she said. "If you've got a moment to spare, why don't you join me?"

I followed her inside because, frankly, I had nothing but moments to spare—at least until Naruto got out of school. The hospital room was generic—indistinguishable from all the others except for the young boy asleep in the bed. A monitor of sorts filled the room with steady, measured beeping.

The woman and I watched him in silence for a moment. A silence I finally broke with, "Is he yours?" He was definitely too young to be one of the two who'd been with her that night.

She nodded. "Yes. We had him a year after. The other two are grown and gone already."

"Gone?" I questioned. Granted, it had been six years, but I'd remembered her children being quite young.

She nodded again, smiling fondly. "My son is only sixteen, but he's apprenticing with a carpenter in another town. My daughter just turned twenty this year. She's married and will have a baby of her own by February."

"At twenty?" I said, hypocritically taken aback. "Although, I guess that's no younger than me…"

It was her turn to be surprised. "_You_ have a baby?"

"A six-year-old, actually," I corrected, and her eyes widened even further. I hurried to add, "I adopted one of the babies who was orphaned that night." Not technically a lie. I figured we didn't need to go into _which_ baby, just yet. Not when she didn't even know—Oh, right. "I'm Connie, by the way."

The woman laughed heartily, before remembering that her child was sleeping just a foot away. She covered her mouth with a hand, still chuckling. "We are getting ahead of ourselves, aren't we? I'm Kei Hanabusa. It's nice to meet you."

"So, what happened to…" I trailed off, my eyes on the boy in the bed. Our conversation hadn't woken him. I noticed for the first time how pale he looked. I would have guessed he was even younger than his five years.

Kei's smile was melancholy this time. Her eyes came to rest on her youngest child also. "Oh, nothing out of the usual… Tanjiro was born with a weak heart. The doctors are skeptical that he'll make it to adulthood. I suppose we'll see."

This, too, was eerily familiar. I stared down at Tanjiro Hanabusa with new eyes. I couldn't help feeling a kinship of sorts with this young boy who wasn't even aware of my existence. Our stories were too similar. It hadn't been that long since I was the one in the hospital bed with the disheartening diagnosis. Only a lifetime or so.

Once the silence had stretched on long enough to be slightly uncomfortable—though Kei didn't seem to feel it—I figured I'd overstayed my welcome. "Well, I guess I'd better be on my way."

Kei seemed to break out of a daze. "Oh, of course. I'm glad you're doing well, honey. Not everyone recovered from that night. Thank you for visiting with me. It was… uplifiting. Just what I needed today."

Well, how the hell do you respond to _that_? I mumbled something self-deprecating and hurried out of the room. Kei must not spend much time in town. Perhaps she wouldn't even recognize Naruto if she saw him. It was a nice change from all the blind judgment I was growing used to.

I paused in front of the information desk on my way out… I ought to just leave… but a curious impulse was taking over me. I stopped long enough for the girl behind the counter to look up inquiringly. "Hello. Can I help you?"

"Maybe," I said, deciding to go with my impulse. "I was a patient here a few years ago. I was wondering if you could help me get back in touch with my doctor."

"Certainly. What was your doctor's name?"

"Miyako Hyuga." I knew I shouldn't be doing this. I had no plans of _actually_ getting back in touch with her. It was pure (slightly bitter) curiosity. She hadn't tracked _me_ down in the past six years. Had she lost interest in her experiments? Or had she gotten her answers and just didn't need her test subject anymore? If possible, that outcome was the one that made me the most uneasy. But as it turned out, I needn't have worried.

The girl's face fell immediately. "Oh… I'm so sorry… Miyako died in the attack six years ago."

I was curiously numb. Miyako was dead? This was a hard fact to process. Okay, I'd be lying if I said I felt any immediate remorse for all the unkind things I'd ever thought about her. But it wasn't like I was glad she was dead, either. I could be pretty bad about holding grudges, I knew, but perhaps I was finally starting to grow up. True, if Miyako hadn't kept me comatose those last few months, maybe I would have been able to figure out a way to save Minato and Kushina… But then again, maybe not. Maybe they wouldn't have believed me no matter what I told them. Maybe history would have gone down just the way it was meant to, regardless of any action Miyako or I or anyone else might have taken.

All I knew was that I didn't feel anything in particular about the news of Miyako's death. Sometimes people who seem like they're going to be major players in your life simply turn out to be nothing more than passing influences. In a very permanent way, Miyako had determined the course of my life, but that didn't necessarily mean she herself had a permanent stake in it. If anything, this news meant I could finally stop wondering about her. I supposed, in the long run, it didn't really matter _why_ she'd done what she'd done—what kind of a person she'd been overall. I realized that what I felt most strongly from this news was closure.

**…**

Naruto was oddly quiet again that night. This change in him was starting to make me anxious. I'd known that a lot of his good cheer was put-on, but what if this prolonged gloominess was something he'd leeched off of _me_? I wasn't exactly the cheeriest person when it came to hardship. And hadn't there been some study back in my world on how personality could be influenced by a person's environment? The implications of that disturbed me more than I liked to admit. What if Naruto didn't grow up to be Naruto at all?

"What are you thinking so hard about over there?" My sudden words felt too loud in the silence. I could only hope he was sunk too deep in his own thoughts to pick up on my own worries. Indeed, he seemed to have barely heard me.

"What?" He looked up from where he was picking at his dinner. "Nothin… School."

"Oh yeah?" I raised my eyebrows. "I thought the lectures were all_ boring_."

He shrugged, not giving anything away. "This one was interesting."

"Yeah? What was it about?"

"Sensei wanted to know which of us came from ninja families and which of us were civilians."

My eyebrows furrowed. I had a bad feeling about this. "Why?"

"He wouldn't say. But some of my classmates were talking after… Do you think it makes a difference?" He was suddenly very direct.

"Do I think _what_ makes a difference?"

"Being a civilian. They were telling all the kids who came from civilian families that they'd never be able to catch up to all the kids from ninja families, so we should just quit now."

"We?" I repeated. "Why were they hassling_ you_?"

His eyes were a little defiant. "Cause I told Sensei I'm from a civilian family."

For a minute, I wasn't sure how to respond. There was an anger remaining underneath. The implications of his sensei's questioning were disturbing, to say the least. Once again, I couldn't help questioning how he was running his classes. But I could look into that later. Naruto's words had stopped me cold.

"What? Why would you say that? You _do _come from a ninja family. You know that." I'd been able to tell him that much, even with the Hokage's orders.

That slightly defiant look was aimed at me full force. "_You're_ not a ninja. And you're my family."

He'd moved me to silence again. I stared at him for another moment before pushing my chair back. But I didn't get up, instead gesturing him over. He obliged, climbing up to nestle in my lap without complaint. He'd been distancing himself from physical displays of affection lately, but we both needed this.

"You're a pretty cool kid, you know that?" I said at last, my voice a little thick. "And no, I don't think it makes a difference. You're gonna grow up to be stronger than all of them."

"Oh, I know," he said simply, though his face was warm against my neck. "I told them all I'm gonna be Hokage one day."

My laughter stemmed mostly from relief, and I think he could hear that. This was the first I'd heard of his dream, even after he'd gotten all gung-ho about being a ninja. It was reassuring, to say the least.

"Don't give up," I told him. "You will be."

**Review please!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**One OC leaves her life and another enters… though she doesn't quite realize it yet. Anyway, I wanted this chapter to focus a little more on her relationship with Naruto, because, even though she's raised him these past six years, I felt like I haven't actually shown much of the two interacting together. Their relationship is kind of two-sided. There are times when she's more of a relaxed, brusque older sister figure, and others when she's clearly in protective mother mode. Hopefully, I'll get to start showcasing that a little more in the upcoming chapters. Thank you for reading!**


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Welcome back, friends. I tried not to leave you hanging too long this time. **

**Thank you for reviewing chapter thirteen: **MusicOfMadness, Love Stories00, NatNicole, lizyeh2000, Tanner Clark, **and** InARealPickle.

**Actually, **InARealPickle, **I wanted to address your reviews specifically. One, thank you for officially pushing me over the 50-review mark! This is the first story of mine that's accomplished that, (unsurprising, as I primarily write one-shots) and I consider it to be quite a milestone. But I also felt you brought up an interesting point in your reviews: Connie's anger is/was mostly directed at Miyako. Shouldn't she have felt betrayed by Minato as well, for letting it happen? I don't usually let my reviews influence the course of my chapters too much, but I did tweak this one a little to address it here. (And I think I managed to do it without the scene feeling too out of place.) It is a valid question, and it feels kind of like a cop-out to give all these explanations "off-screen" in my author's notes. So, without further ado…**

**Chapter Fourteen**

Perhaps it was all the reminders of the past I'd encountered during the day, but the nightmares that evening were immediate. No sooner had I closed my eyes than I was standing in that field of rubble that had once been a hospital. The night was dark and cold—the October air chilling my skin. I could see fires in the distance, hear screams. It was dark… but everything seemed very clear.

Much clearer than I'd remembered it being that night. I had to wonder how much the dream was embellishing. I'd been numb from shock at the time; I hadn't been aware of most of the things I was feeling now. I supposed it could have been registered by my subconscious, but… Eh, I was a skeptic.

Whatever it was, it sure felt real. And I wasn't simply reliving that night. I'd had this dream a few times. I could stand out here as long as I wanted… No one was coming to get me in this version of things.

Even so, my next steps were tentative. True to reality, my feet were bare. And I got the feeling that if I stepped on anything out here, the pain would be very real too. I wanted to wake up. I'd already lived through this night once. I didn't need to see it again. But as soon as I closed my eyes, everything got louder.

Including a few sounds I knew were creations of the dream.

"Please! I can still help her! I owe her that much, don't I?"

Angie's voice jarred me. I hadn't heard it in six years, but something about it resonated with my very core. It was as familiar as… Well, as my own. But I couldn't help feeling a little uneasy at the sound. She wasn't talking to me. And the last time I'd heard her talking to some unknown entity in this strange space where dreams and reincarnations took place… had been her disastrous final attempt to restore me to my old life.

"You already know my answer." This new voice was foreign to me—apparently not ingrained into my mind like Angie's was. It was deep and menacing, and I wasn't particularly fond of the idea of having it floating around in my head. "No more _interfering_!"

With this last word, the ground began to shake in a way somehow even more violent than any tremors caused by the battle raging in the distance. The sky above me shattered like it was made of glass, and there was nothing beyond. The entire world seemed to collapse in on itself… and I shot up in bed a second later, mercifully returned to my own room in our tiny apartment.

The most breathless of shrieks had torn its way from my throat, and as I brought one of my hands up to my mouth, I noticed it was trembling. My bare arms felt unusually cool, too. In fact, a sheen of sweat covered every inch of my skin.

I leaned back against the headboard and tried to control my breathing. I'd had my share of nightmares, but I didn't usually react so… physically to them. At most, I'd be frozen under my covers for a few minutes, eyes wide as they scanned the dark room. But that was all, and it wouldn't usually take long for my heart to slow, the nightmarish images fading back into the abyss they'd crawled out of.

I closed my eyes again but made no move to get more comfortable, listening to the natural sounds of the night. I didn't seem to have woken Naruto, at least—I could hear him snoring from the next room. Something about the sound made my heart jump back into my throat. I scrambled out from under the covers, trying to keep my footsteps as quiet as… Well, a ninja as I crossed the hall and pushed open his door.

Sure enough, he remained blissfully unaware, his breathing deep with sleep. The sight of his peaceful form was enough to act like a tranquilizer, my muscles finally relaxing. I drifted over, sitting down on the edge of his bed. He didn't notice. I let a small smile quirk at the corners of my lips. Kid could sleep through anything… I ran one hand slowly through his hair, as if to test it. (It was softer than it looked, despite its tendency to stick up every which way.) Sure enough, he slumbered on.

I let my expression grow grim as I continued to watch him. So much had happened over the last few days, and now this… My mind felt bogged down with too much to think about. This was hardly the first time I'd dreamed of that night. My love for Naruto was all-encompassing, almost overwhelming. But even that wasn't enough to completely blot out the horror of the Nine-Tailed Fox's attack. There were times—in a part of my mind that I'd come to loathe—when I could understand the villager's ill will towards the only living remnant of that night. But why was it so hard for them to understand? It wasn't as if he'd gotten off scot free. Naruto had lost both of his parents that night. _He_ was a victim of the attack, too. Not only that—he was the only victim who wouldn't garner any sympathy or support.

_Not him_, a little voice in the back of my head whispered. _Us_.

The thought still made me uncomfortable, even after all these years. I wasn't entirely sure why. After all, I'd been caught in the middle of that night too—even if only briefly. And I'd certainly done my fair share of grieving after the fact for Minato, Kushina, and my own life as I'd come to know it. I had been just as impacted by this experience as any of the countless other villagers who went around so callously directing hateful glares at a child—surely _more_ so than some of them. Perhaps I just wasn't willing to label myself as a victim. I felt a little bad then for so easily branding Naruto as such. It was my job to make sure he didn't hold with such things either.

But the reminders of that night were nothing new. Finally, I allowed myself to ponder the most unsettling part of the dream.

So… Angie was back. Maybe not officially. Not yet. But I couldn't shake the feeling that—any time now—she was going to burst back into my life, and the thought made me more than a little uneasy. I supposed it had been a little foolish to assume she'd ever _really_ left. She'd told me herself, after all, that she'd reserved her own little pocket of my consciousness. It was about time I accepted that Angie and this new life were a package deal. That acceptance was as ready as I could be for whatever was going to come next. I would just have to wait out that next step the way I was handling everything these days. One day at a time.

**…**

Someone once told me that it can take up to three weeks of consistent behavior to form a habit. I sincerely hoped we weren't in for another two and a half weeks of this. I was running on lack of sleep, and Naruto was his usual morning self. We were both a little snippy with each other. It would be a lot easier on us both once we grew used to this new routine. But I did manage to get him to school on time, and I wasn't _totally_ dead on my feet. Now came the hard part.

…Four rejections later and I felt even worse than I'd anticipated. The last store owner didn't even look up from his paperwork—even though the shop was otherwise empty—before shooing me back outside. The second place had already filled the position. The first and third places told me they weren't looking for another helper.

_So why did you let me waste time filling out an application? _I'd thought irritably before moving on.

I sighed and moved off the main street, out of everyone else's way. The most recent store owner who'd brushed me off had set up shop in the village center. All I had to do was look up and I had a clear view of the faces carved into the mountain. My eyes settled on the last one. Minato Namikaze… The Fourth Hokage.

It was funny how death could sometimes ensure a person would live forever. In the interest of keeping the village's jinchuriki secret, Kushina's death essentially erased her from existence. Maybe she'd be remembered by their classmates—those who hadn't already met their own death, that is. Perhaps some would recall that their beloved Fourth Hokage had been married. But she would never be honored for _her_ sacrifice. Not like Minato.

By my count, he'd had the shortest run as village leader, but he'd be remembered the most fondly. No image was more striking than that of a martyr, after all. But I couldn't help feeling like he'd had to trade in his humanity to earn that spot. Who remembered the famed Fourth Hokage as a real person, apart from the legend? There seemed to be a scarce few of us, and I wasn't entirely sure I could count myself among that number.

Minato Namikaze was still an enigma to me, and I'd _lived_ with the man, for a few months, at least. Was it my own skepticism complicating the image? Was it just that I couldn't honestly believe that anyone could truly be as kind and noble and _good_ as his reputation claimed? He'd never shown a dark side to me. And I couldn't overlook his willingness to accept me into his home when I'd had nowhere to go—and when he'd had no good reason to. That act had come to define the rest of my second life.

But I wasn't foolish enough to assume he'd had no reservations whatsoever. And rightly so. Even though I'd held no ill will in my heart towards them—and had no means to act on that ill will, even if I had—I _had_ been lying about my past and the amnesia. A necessary evil, I felt, but certainly suspicious enough in a war-torn ninja society to land me in an interrogation room. Maybe I was a little caught up in the legend too. I _wanted_ to believe he really was just that good.

Perhaps my opinion of the man would be a little different if I had a clearer picture of what had happened those last few months. For some reason, I didn't hold him quite as responsible for leaving me in the hospital as I did Miyako for using Angie's experiment as an excuse to imprison me there and person her own experiments. Not that I didn't think he'd follow through, but I had no way of knowing how much Minato had known. (Hell, for all I knew, even Miyako could have had good intentions.) He did have a village to run. Konoha hadn't been that far removed from war time in those days. And Kushina's impending due date would have been an added stress. Perhaps he'd decided he couldn't afford to take any more chances with my mystery appearance in their lives?

Or maybe there had been no second thoughts or indecision. Maybe he'd just decided to put his son's wellbeing above that of some girl he barely knew and owed nothing. I could hardly fault him for that. We were on the same page there.

"Kani?"

I jumped at the sound of my name being called. I'd been immersed so completely in my musings that I'd lost track of everything going on around me. Kei Hanabusa stood just a few feet away, one hand raised tentatively as if to tap me on the shoulder. I was glad she'd decided to call out instead.

"Oh!" I exclaimed. "Hey. I guess I was pretty zoned out there, huh?"

She smiled as I laughed sheepishly. "It's not like I've got room to judge, honey. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Just another day." I was feeling oddly amenable, despite the morning of rejections. Maybe I'd just needed time to take a step back. "How's Tanjiro?"

Her smile had a familiar tired quality to it. "Came home from the hospital today. He's still resting." She laughed a wry little laugh. "Go figure, he got sick again right in time for our busiest season." Her expression sobered again immediately, as if she'd spoken the words before she'd really known what she was going to say. "I don't mean that, of course; I'm just glad to have him home."

I tried to make my smile reassuring. "Relax. I know. If I didn't have sarcasm, I would have lost my sanity a long time ago. What's so busy about this time of year?"

"Oh, it's just time for inventory again," she said, waving a hand. "I usually have the older two to help out, but they're both off living their own lives this year. I'll manage somehow. I always do."

"Where do you work?" I wasn't usually this solicitous when it came to small talk, but something about Kei Hanabusa was just… inviting. I knew Naruto and I lived isolated lives, but he usually kept me too busy to feel starved for socialization.

She gestured behind her, and I noticed the little wooden building. The door had been left open—she would be able to hear her son if he called for her. "It's a general store of sorts. Paper, ink, snacks… Knives, sometimes, when I can get a good deal on them… Just about everything passes through our little store at one point or another. Working for myself gives me some leeway… My husband was always very precise about getting inventory done by a certain date. He liked everything a certain way. I guess that's why I feel so pressured to stick to old habits."

"Your husband doesn't work with you anymore?" Her description didn't sound like a man who could just drop a business and focus on something else.

"Oh, no. Didn't I tell you? I could have sworn it came up at the hospital. I lost my husband two years ago. It's just me now."

"Damn," I said at last, feeling insensitive just for asking. "That's a lot of shit to hit one person."

It was not quite as articulate as I'd wanted it to be, but Kei laughed, a loud, abrupt sound. "Well, I suppose that's an appropriate response if ever I heard one. If I have to hear one more stranger tell me how _sorry_ they are…" She shook her head. "Anyway… What are you doing out this way?"

"Job-hunting," I said grimly. "Unsuccessfully, I might add."

"You don't say…"

I could see her mind working, and I tried not to get my hopes up. An idea had taken root in my own mind. Perhaps an opportunity had fallen into my lap when I'd run into Kei out here.

"Well, I'm not really in a position to offer you a real job… Not even part-time. But if you'd like to help me until I get inventory settled for the year… We could work something out," she offered.

My smile was answer enough. In truth, it wasn't much. It was a very short-term fix to this problem. But it wasn't nothing, either. One step at a time.

**Review please!**

**I don't own Naruto. **

**This chapter went back to being very much inside Connie's head. While there are important things that **_**should**_** be pondered over, I can't help but feeling like it's not quite up to a certain standard with so little happening in each chapter. Oh well. I guess that's something to work on for later chapters. **


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**I really enjoyed writing this chapter. It was only once I'd finished that I looked back and realized it was all very… civilian. I guess that shouldn't be so surprising. That is Connie's role, after all. The fun ninja stuff is still a ways off from this point. **

**Which has made me even more appreciative of all the wonderful reviews I've been getting! I really enjoy writing this story, but there are times when I wonder why so many of you enjoy reading it. Not that I'm complaining! It's just… Connie's Konoha life is not exactly what people are drawn to **_**Naruto**_** for… Fear not. There will be some civilian-style badassery in the future… I can only hope you'll still be around when I finally get to it. **

**So! Without further ado… Thank you so much for reviewing chapter fourteen: **Blonde Neko-chan, lizyeh2000, Amd, **and **taran taran**!**

**Chapter Fifteen**

Kei's shop—Hanabusa Supplies—was a homey little place, truly deserving of being called "quaint." It was also a mess. Each of the four walls, even the one behind the counter, housed rows of shelves stuffed with… well, stuff. Kei hadn't been kidding. Just from my preliminary sweep of the shop, I spotted toys, souvenirs, regular office supplies…

Half of the boxed up inventory in the back had been brought out to take up space on the floor. You couldn't even see the check-out counter, which appeared to have become her worktable.

"Wow…" I said after she'd let me stand in the doorway, mouth agape, for a generous length of time. Bordering on rude, really.

But she just laughed good-naturedly. "I wasn't kidding when I said I needed the help. I wouldn't blame you if you've changed your mind."

I made a point of rolling up my sleeves, showcasing my nonexistent muscles. "I wasn't kidding when I said I needed a job. Where do we start?"

"Mom?" a small voice answered for her. "Who's here?"

"Tanjiro!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing out of bed?"

I turned at the sound of her son's voice, and had to search for a minute to spot the boy himself. Amidst all the other stuff, just to the left of the counter, was a doorway. It presumably led to the stairs that would bring you up to the Hanabusa family's apartment above the shop. But the doorway was closed off by a hanging tapestry, and peeking out from behind it was the little boy I'd seen in the hospital bed the day before.

Tanjiro looked just as pale and scrawny, even conscious and moving around. But he scrunched up his nose at his mother's words, bringing some life to his features. He complained, "I've been resting all day. I want to _do_ something."

Granted, his voice was small too, but I couldn't help but smile. This certainly brought back memories. I decided I liked him. Kei immediately opened her mouth to object, her eyebrows furrowed in worry, but I got there first.

"Great!" I chirped with excessive cheer. I grabbed the closest box, which was nearly overflowing. "You can help us count these ornaments!"

Tanjiro eyed the box very seriously for a second, weighing his options, before grimacing. "I'm actually kinda tired. I'm gonna go back upstairs…"

I turned away with a little smirk as he retreated, setting the box back down. Victory for me… Kei just looked relieved.

"Thank you," she said softly. "Lately, any time I try to reason with him, he works himself up so much, I'm afraid…"

She didn't have to finish her thought. I frowned before making up my mind. Well, this would decide whether this thing with Kei was going to work out or not.

"Listen… I don't mean to be too forward… But that's kind of just how I do things, actually. I have a little experience with situations like Tanjiro's. The more you try to pull him back, reign him in, the harder he's going to fight. You said the problem with his health is _inside_ him, right? Even if you _could_ lock him away in a sterile, padded room, it's not likely to prolong his life any. What you're facing is awful and unfair and tragic, but in the meantime, that's no way to live. So I say… Loosen up a little. Let him enjoy what time he does have left."

There was total silence for a solid minute. At last, Kei exhaled loudly and surprised me with a rueful smile. "My older son told me the exact same thing. To be honest, that was a big reason the other two moved out so soon after their father's death… For my daughter… I think it was just hard on her, having to watch Tanjiro deteriorate too. My son… He was having problems with _me_. I'd always been so strict with the first two. He couldn't understand how I'd turned into such a pushover with Tanjiro. He told me that if I really wanted to help him, I'd treat him like any other kid, and then he left."

"I didn't mean to sound unsympathetic," I began, but she waved me off.

"No apologies," she said firmly, bringing out the mother she must have been before becoming the caretaker of a terminally ill child. "I appreciate a person who can speak their mind. Now come. I did hire you to _work_, after all."

**…**

Luck has always seemed to hit me in waves. I'm either standing on the shore, sweltering in the sun, or I'm so far out into the ocean, all I can see is water on all sides, for as far as the eye can see. All at once or nothing at all.

Meeting up with Kei again had been the start of the high tide. The very next day, I made some progress with all the applications I'd filled out. Just down the road from Hanabusa Supplies, albeit in a flashier, more public area of the neighborhood, was a jack-of-all-trades sort of restaurant. I'd seen plenty of specialty shops since moving to Konoha—ramen stands, sushi bars, that barbecue joint that would become the preferred meeting place of the future Team Ten—but relatively few restaurants like this one that claimed to do it all.

The owner and head chef was an impatient man named Chihaya. He was younger than one might expect of a man in his position and would have been quite attractive—possessing those distinctly purple eyes that were believably natural here in this world—if not for his brusque personality. I'd arrived at almost precisely eleven AM, when the restaurant was officially open to the public, yet he greeted me as if he'd been expecting me hours ago. Clearly, I should have made this place my first stop the day before.

I could see right away that Chihaya accepted nothing less than the best from all his staff, which was why it came as such a surprise that he seemed fairly lax about my own duties as dishwasher. Granted, he ran through my responsibilities with the same intense air he addressed everyone else, but a few things stood out to me right away. One, I would not be required to wear a uniform of any sort—though I would be given an apron—as my job was to be done strictly out of the public eye. Two, I would be paid a set wage. As with Kei, the sum was very minimum wage-esque. But for now, it was a steady income, and by my calculations, it was almost a livable salary in Konoha. We wouldn't have much to spare, by any means, but if that became a problem… Well, I would cross that bridge when I came to it.

Third, and most important, my hours were essentially mine to set. At first, I hadn't thought I'd heard him right, but Chihaya had pursed his lips as he explained—in a measured voice that still managed to sound impatient—that he didn't care when I showed up or even if I worked my entire shift all in one stretch or not. On the days that I was scheduled to work, as long as his cooks and wait staff weren't running out of utensils or plates or whatever else, and as long as all the dishes were clean by the time they closed at night, I was free to come and go as I pleased.

It was almost too good to be true. Exactly the kind of schedule I needed, without even having to go into the whole single mother explanation. Not that Chihaya seemed like the type to be moved by such stories. In fact, he didn't ask me a single question about my personal life, all business. It was only once I was standing at the sink, being trained by the one other dishwasher who would be here on the days that I was not scheduled, that I realized my new boss had never officially asked me if I wanted to work for him. Perhaps this would have bothered me had I been in someone else's position, but beggars can't be choosers, and the particulars of my employment here really were almost too perfect, no matter the boss's attitude.

The boy who acted as my teacher was high-school aged—or whatever Konoha's civilian equivalent was—and unwaveringly cheerful. He ran me through my responsibilities as he worked himself, sharing two extra comments per every bit of actual instruction, and still managing to break off and say something to every employee who passed by. None of them stopped to talk—they'd surely catch hell from the boss if they let themselves be distracted—but the line cooks and waiters did all seem to have a smile to spare for their enthusiastic dishwasher. Daisuke certainly did his part to lighten the mood around here, even from the least glorified behind-the-scenes position. Perhaps that was the reason Chihaya put up with his constant chatter. He had to be aware of the atmosphere his drill sergeant attitude created.

"You seem happy here," I noted, cutting into one of his brief pauses. I'd joined him at the sink, up to my elbows in soapy water. I was more of a hands-on learner anyway, and he genuinely seemed to enjoy the company.

Daisuke beamed at me. "Oh yeah! I love this place! I couldn't believe my luck when I actually got an interview."

"Don't let him lull you into a false sense of security," a waitress murmured, setting down a tower of plates beside me. "The last dishwasher Master Chihaya hired ran out crying."

And then she was gone, already back to work. I turned to Daisuke for confirmation. He nodded emphatically, his expression not clouded over in the slightest. "Yup, and the one before her too."

I stared at him for a moment, until he explained with another smile. "You need the right kind of mindset to work under Master Chihaya. He's strict but fair, I think. And his personality's kind of like the first test. All the long-time staff admire him. They're willing to take any position they can get in the hopes that he'll take them on as his students one day."

It was clear this was what Daisuke was hoping for. He hadn't bothered to lower his voice at all, and he wasn't exactly quiet to begin with. I wondered if the boss was a regular topic of discussion around here. Even if it was, I got the feeling Chihaya probably didn't care what they said about him, so long as the work got done, and got done satisfactorily.

"He must be pretty good then," I commented, and was treated to an enthusiastic speech on how 'Master Chihaya' was possibly the best chef in the entire Land of Fire and how anyone would be honored to learn from him.

I was starting to wonder if I'd gotten myself into something bigger than I'd intended. Everyone else here did seem like a serious student. I just needed a job. But in time, I was sure I would get into the pace of things around here. And if I ever left, it would be on my own terms—Chihaya wasn't going to chase _me_ away.

**…**

I sat Naruto down that night to talk about the changes he was sure to see around here from now on. He had flopped down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling—_not_ doing his homework, I noticed—when I came in.

He didn't even greet me when I sat down on his bed, nor did he make the effort to move over to make room. I swear, already the kid's attitude could've let him pass for sixteen rather than six. I contemplated asking after his gloom—had something _else _upset him at school? But I decided that could be addressed later.

"Whatcha up to?" I asked to break the ice.

"Nothin," he mumbled.

"Exciting."

He eyed me a little suspiciously. Clearly, my attempt to be casual was fooling no one. So I jumped right in. "So, I got a job today."

Naruto stared at me blankly for a moment, as if the words weren't quite connecting in his mind to have meaning. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised. It wasn't like I'd ever discussed our financial situation with my six-year-old. Taking care of him was the only job I'd ever had. Luckily, the next word out of his mouth wasn't 'why' but, "Where?"

"Some fancy restaurant downtown. But listen, this means you'll have to start doing some things for yourself around here. I'm gonna have to work around dinnertime so… I'll make sure to stock up on instant ramen, okay?"

A grin split across his face. "Cool!"

I grinned back, despite some lingering unease. "Yeah. But there's one more thing, okay? I'm not gonna be around to stand over your shoulder and make sure you're doing your homework or studying or training or whatever else your instructors want you to be doing. So… get to it."

He gave only the slightest of groans before rolling off his bed. I followed him out of the room with a small smile. Only time would tell how much this change would really affect us. For now, I could only be grateful for the things that would not change.

**Review please!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**So… I shamelessly used the name (and bits of his appearance and personality) of one of my favorite Harvest Moon characters for Connie's boss. Yeah, no regrets there. **


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**Not even a month has passed? You guys are being spoiled. I have the next few chapters more or less all planned out, though. So that always helps. **

**Thank you for reviewing chapter fifteen: **lullabydono **and **taran taran!

**Chapter Sixteen**

By the next morning, I already had a mental map of my new schedule. I figured I'd get Naruto up, walk him to school, spend the mornings helping Kei with inventory, wash dishes from the time Chihaya's restaurant opened until I had to pick Naruto up from school, and then return to the restaurant to wash even more dishes until Chihaya closed the place down for the night. Until inventory at Hanabusa Supplies was complete for the year, the days that I had to work at the restaurant would be a tight fit, but I would manage. Daisuke and I were scheduled pretty evenly—three days one week, four the next. I could only imagine how he'd somehow managed _all_ the days in between resignations and new hires.

I told Kei about it the very next morning, and she seemed pleased for me. And it pleased _me_ to note that Tanjiro was out helping us. He didn't even seem to mind the monotony of the work. I was glad Kei was making an effort to loosen her hold on him, and I entertained him with an exaggerated portrayal of Chihaya's uptight, snooty attitude.

"He doesn't seem too bad, though," I conceded at the end. "Maybe it just takes the right person to appreciate it."

"Do you think he'd like me?" Tanjiro asked with a grin.

I considered him very seriously. "Have you sworn allegiance, heart and soul, to our almighty savior, the god of cooking?"

"Uh… no?" he giggled.

"Then probably not."

Kei smiled over at us as Tanjiro lapsed into another peal of giggles. "And? How's your boy handling the change?"

I thought about that for a moment. There had been nothing noticeably different about Naruto this morning. Perhaps he'd been putting on a brave face for my sake, or perhaps it wouldn't really sink in for him until he was eating dinner alone tonight. The unease I'd felt throughout our conversation the night before had returned with a vengeance this morning. Only now did I recognize it for what it was: guilt.

The thought of Naruto alone in our apartment tonight was sickening to me. Wasn't this the entire point of taking him in? So that he wouldn't have to experience this sort of loneliness? I wondered how much the first five years would count, in the long run. What would he remember, if I started doing a half-assed job now? But it wasn't as if I had a choice! I wasn't off having fun; it was my _job_ that was keeping me away. Just another part of being an adult…

Kei seemed to see the conflict in my face, and she gave me a sympathetic smile. "Not to rub it in, but I always knew I was lucky, getting to work from home. It was bad enough when my first two started school. If it's any consolation, the separation is usually harder on the parents than the kids."

I tried to smile back and tell myself I was overreacting. This sort of separation—to use Kei's word—was a natural part of growing up, right? Before long, he'd be _asking_ to be left alone. …For some reason, I wasn't entirely reassured.

"Hey, Mom?" Tanjiro asked suddenly. Or perhaps it just felt sudden, given how immersed I was in my own thoughts. "How come I don't get to go to school?"

Kei looked stricken for a moment. Tanjiro, on the other hand, had a shifty look about his eyes. I got the feeling he knew exactly why not and was just dying for an opportunity to make his case. And as much as I was rooting him on, I jumped in to rescue Kei once more.

"Naruto didn't get to go until he was six. You've got another year before you can go to school with all the other kids."

The little boy stared me down for a moment, and I honestly expected him to come out with something bold about the severity of his illness or his mother's controlling behavior. Tanjiro may have been young and sheltered, but there was something sharp about him too. The more time we spent together, the more I saw myself in him. And, even now, I could be a right brat when I wanted to be. But luckily for both of us, Tanjiro stayed silent for now.

"Naruto…" Kei repeated slowly. "That's an interesting name."

I was not optimistic enough to convince myself that Kei—who was just as sharp as her son—didn't now know exactly who I'd adopted. In fact, she'd never so much as asked me for my surname, so it had been rather easy to keep his identity hidden. (I'd exchanged 'Levick' for 'Uzumaki' after the Fox's attack, in order to normalize things for Naruto. I could only hope Kushina wouldn't mind.) But, likely due to his own loud personality, the name Naruto Uzumaki was already becoming known around the village.

"Well, I can't take credit for that part," I told her. If she had a problem with my connection to Naruto, she could come right out and say it. Sad as I would be to lose our mornings together, I wasn't quite so desperate for a job anymore. Chihaya was certainly never going to put me in this position.

But Kei didn't seem to want a confrontation either. She just eyed me thoughtfully—possibly reassessing everything she'd learned about me thus far—before going back to sorting through her wares.

**…**

No amount of mental mapping could have prepared me for how exhausting my day truly was. By the time I got home that night—around 10 PM—I had just enough energy to check in on Naruto, who was already asleep, and then flop into bed myself.

By the end of the week, my hands were so chafed that I had to invest in some of the lotion from Kei's store. (I had seriously underestimated the difficulties of dishwashing, but at least it was one less bottle for us to count.) Before the week was over, the charms of being an adult were already wearing off. To his credit, Naruto was still handling my absences with good cheer. And we both tried to make the most of the nights I didn't have to work late. We spent one night converting our apartment's backyard into the most amateur-looking target range this world had ever seen. But it would serve its purpose. And early reports from the academy teachers stated that Naruto's shuriken accuracy needed work… Along with just about everything else. Speaking of… New academy students were given a ninja tool starter pack, but we would need to invest in a more extensive supply. Damn. My paychecks were being spent before they even made it into my possession.

Even so, I did enjoy both of my jobs. Kei remained friendly towards me. An understanding had passed between us the other day. She didn't ask anything more about Naruto, and if she did hold any prejudices after that night, she didn't direct them towards me. And washing dishes at the restaurant was excellent busy work. I now had more time to just _think_ than ever before, and I found myself falling back into an old habit. In the early days following Naruto's birth, I'd taken to trying to recall some of my favorite songs from my first life. It wasn't like I had much of a voice, but I was pretty sure, at that age, Naruto couldn't really understand me anyway. The real fixation had come upon learning that my memory of English was elusive and shaky. I still didn't entirely understand how the language swap had worked, but the loss of my first language had unnerved me a bit. It was weird. I didn't have any trouble remembering and pronouncing English _names_, and I could remember the _music_ to each of the songs, but the words either escaped me completely or came out all wrong. Call me nostalgic. I spent my work hours humming and muttering to myself, and if my coworkers thought I was strange, they didn't let on.

The last day of inventory arrived all too soon. An air of finality hung over us both all morning as the last boxes were logged and accounted for. Kei's financial situation remained unchanged. She couldn't afford to keep me on long-term, even part time. And frankly, I didn't have it in me to keep up with my long days forever. I would miss her company, though. Kei had come to feel like more of a friend than a coworker, something I'd come to realize I was in very short supply of.

At last, we both straightened up and looked at each other. The job was done.

"Well," she said, "I guess that's it for this year. You've been a great help, honey."

The 'I'll miss you' was on the tip of both of our tongues, but neither of us seemed able to say it. Instead, I said, "You still have to put the store back together, right? It's Daisuke's day at the restaurant. How about I bring Naruto over this afternoon and help out?"

When Kei seemed dumbfounded by my offer, I added, "You don't even have to pay me for that part. Consider it a thank you for extending me a hand in the first place." And here was the real test. The possibility of the two of us remaining friends after this all hinged on her response. "Plus, it'll be good for Tanjiro. How often does he get to spend time with other kids his age?"

Kei appeared newly taken-aback for a moment. But when she regained her composure, she seemed genuine. "That would be lovely. I'm sure Tanjiro will be thrilled."

I counted it as a victory. I should have known nothing is ever that simple.

**…**

Naruto took the news about the way I'd expected him to. His face had immediately brightened upon catching sight of me waiting for him out in the schoolyard. He pushed his way through his classmates and raced over, beaming.

"Hey, Sis! Are you working today?"

I smiled back, deciding to skip the lecture on maybe being a little more considerate of his peers, who were grumbling behind us. "Not exactly. I do have something planned for us, though."

Naruto listened quietly as I detailed out our afternoon, the excitement on his face slowly fading into suspicion. Damn. I must have been rubbing off on him after all. "Are you setting me up on a _play date_?"

Well, that answered one question. The sarcasm dripping from his words was definitely something he'd picked up from me. If nothing else, I'd taught him to be on guard for pity favors. So I didn't try to deny it. "If you'd rather spend the time training, be my guest. But I'm going over either way, and I'm sure Tanjiro would enjoy the company."

Naruto continued to eye me suspiciously. "Oh yeah? Why doesn't he invite his friends over?"

"He doesn't get out much. He doesn't have any." The 'either' was implied, and I knew he could hear it. He softened immediately. Apparently it wasn't so bad if they were both being set up.

And Tanjiro was pleased to see him. We weren't huge on manners in our house. Even without the demon fox asleep in his belly, Naruto wasn't exactly the kind of kid you brought around to show off to other parents. But the boys took to each other right away, and Kei was perfectly friendly. If she'd ever had doubts, she kept a tight lid on them now.

I suspected Tanjiro was just thrilled to have another connection to the outside world. He was more than content to let Naruto do all the talking. And for someone who typically had nothing but complaints about homework and boring lectures for me, he sure could make ninja school sound badass. Tanjiro hung on his every word. It was only near the end, just as Kei and I were finishing up, that our beautiful afternoon went very suddenly downhill.

"Hey!" Naruto exclaimed, struck with an idea. "Why don't you come to the academy next year! Then you could be a ninja too! And I could help you with the drills…"

There was an unspoken 'And then neither of us would be alone' too, but Tanjiro's face had already fallen. And it wasn't just gloominess. He looked a bit sour, too. I wondered if Kei's son had hoped to gang up on his mother and convince her to let him go to school _somewhere_. Unfortunately, he got a little more than he'd bargained for.

Tanjiro gave an exaggerated sigh. "I'm not allowed to go to school."

"What? Why not?"

The younger boy rolled his eyes. "'Cause I'm sick."

Naruto stared at him blankly for a moment. "So? People get sick all the time." Or so he'd heard.

"Yeah, but I'm going to die." I could tell the offhand manner in which he said it had struck Kei like a physical blow. I could do little more than watch the situation unfold. How bizarre it was to see something so familiar played out in someone else's life. How often had I hurt my own parents in the exact same way? But Naruto still looked confused.

"What do you mean, you're gonna die? You're younger than _me_!"

I'm still not sure why I didn't jump in at that point. Sure, Naruto had some understanding of death. His parents weren't on vacation, after all. But it wasn't like we'd ever talked about death in relation to children. When Tanjiro just shrugged—because this was nothing new to him—Naruto went on, "Well, can't you go see a doctor?"

"I see doctors all the time. There's nothing they can do."

The severity of the situation was slowly setting in. And Tanjiro's nonchalance about his own demise was pushing Naruto over the edge.

"Honey," Kei started as he jumped to his feet. But he was out the door a second later.

I swore under my breath and charged out after him. "Naruto, wait!" I called, dodging overgrown bushes and low-hanging branches as we ran deeper into the forest.

He finally burst into a little clearing and ran out of steam. We both had to stop for a moment, struggling to catch our breath. But he recovered first, and the look on his face—somewhere between horror and betrayal—wasn't something I ever wanted to see again.

"Naruto—"

"Why would you bring me there?!" he cut in, his chest still heaving. He squeezed his eyes shut in frustration, struggling to find the words. "I mean… What am I supposed to_ do_ about that?!"

I did my best to keep my voice level. "I didn't expect you to come in and work a miracle. I just thought this one afternoon, for however many he has left, might be a nice change. For both of you."

"That's not what I meant!" His hands were still balled tightly into fists, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes.

"Naruto, I _know_ it's not fair." Better than I'd ever be able to explain to him. "I should have warned you, and I'm sorry. There are some evils in this world that really _can't_ be fought. It wasn't a lesson I wanted you to learn just yet." If ever.

I'd been steadily moving in on him, arms half-raised invitingly. But he shook his head furiously, the first choked sob breaking through. "_No_! It's not okay!"

This shout sent all the birds in the surrounding trees scattering. The air around us was very nearly vibrating with his distress. Even so, I remained focused. At least until something much bigger than a bird dropped down from the trees above us. I just caught sight of an Anbu mask before I was grabbed and flown back a few feet.

"Careful," a soft voice murmured. Naruto had been shocked out of his anger, but the masked stranger remained planted carefully between us. Except… Upon closer inspection, I realized he wasn't a stranger, and my own anger flared up.

"Kakashi," I hissed. "What are you _doing_?"

He inclined his head toward me slightly as Naruto's head swung between the two of us, confused. A small part of me was glad that Kakashi at least had enough sense to keep his own voice low. "My job."

I raised my eyebrows incredulously. "Meaning?"

"Someone is always watching. On guard for situations like this one."

I bristled at his casual tone. "I had it under control. Now, if you don't mind, would you stop scaring my kid?" To be fair, Naruto still only looked alarmed at best, but I didn't care. I had started to dread Kakashi's reappearances in my life, and I wanted him out of here.

But he didn't move. And he didn't have to take off his mask for me to know he had one eyebrow raised too, either doubtful, mocking, or amused. Maybe all three. "The biggest concern here is that you're _not_ scared. Even a civilian like you should have been able to feel the aura he was exuding. I don't have to tell you what the Nine-Tailed Fox can do. Unless, of course, you know something I don't?"

His words were so carefully loaded, and I could only glare in response. These subtle reminders of the promise I had yet to make good on made me glad I saw Kakashi so rarely these days.

He leaned in suddenly, speaking so quickly I almost couldn't catch the words. "You know, even a civilian could do some serious damage with a Biju, if they have enough influence over the jinchuriki containing it."

A cold feeling rushed through me then, as if something inside me had physically snapped with his words. I could only imagine what my face looked like, but it was bad enough to break Naruto out of his silence.

"Hey! What are you doing to my sister?!" He took a step closer, and I knew I had to end this quickly. Naruto would only wait out our hushed mutterings for so long.

I turned on Kakashi once more and whispered harshly, "Well, if you're so sure I'm out to destroy the world, then arrest me! But if you're not going to do something about it, then _fuck off_, Kakashi!"

I pushed past him then. Or, I would have. He lithely stepped out of the way before I could make contact. But he didn't make any move to intervene as I grabbed Naruto's hand and pulled him out of the forest.

**…**

Late that night, I remained in Naruto's bedroom, staring up at the dark ceiling. He was curled up against my side where he'd fallen asleep hours ago. His breathing was steady, but I could still spot the tear tracks on his cheeks. I just couldn't bring myself to return to my own room yet.

It was amazing how quickly things had gotten out of hand. And the worst part was, I knew I'd brought some of it onto myself. But I wasn't ready to reveal my secrets just yet. Kakashi was too unpredictable. Who knew what he would do with that information? But damn, no one could back me into a corner quite like that man.

I was still feeling prickles of anger at Kakashi's intervention. As if Naruto was going to hurt me! And all those little jabs about the Nine-Tails's power… It would be years before that seal started loosening. Kakashi had to have a little more faith in his teacher's abilities than that!

But it _is_ possible for moments of great emotion to weaken the seal, regardless of time, a little voice in the back of my head whispered. The first time, in the Land of Waves…

But that had been in reaction to Sasuke's death. Or so he'd thought, anyway. Naruto had only met Tanjiro today!

But what if it wasn't a matter of a _comrade_ dying? What if it was just his first encounter with death in general? I _had_ felt something out there today…

My head was starting to spin. _Had _Naruto been on his way to losing control?

_He's right, you know_, a familiar high-pitched voice said suddenly. _Things have already shifted_.

I jumped, and my eyes flew open.

"Angie?" I said aloud. But no matter how long I lay there, wide-eyed and attentive, all I got in response was silence.

**Review please!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**Everything is slowly coming together… I feel good about this chapter. I worry that I make my chapters too one-sided. That it's either all civilian stuff or all ninja stuff, and I want them to be a blend. **


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**EDIT: In case any of you did see it during the first... seven hours or so that it was up, I have now taken down and reposted this chapter. If you read it the first time, don't worry. Nothing has changed apart from this note at the top. I got an Error message the first time I posted it. I left it alone for a while because when I looked at the story, chapter seventeen did show up and read as it was meant to, but the story hadn't been moved to the top of my stories list like it usually is once it's been updated. Which makes me suspect that it probably wasn't appearing as updated to anyone who's followed or favorited it, and I didn't want anyone to miss it and then be confused if they didn't hear from this story until chapter 18 is posted and end up missing a chapter. So I'm reposting it just in case. Thank you. **

**I wasn't sure where I wanted this chapter to end… I actually ended up finishing it at an earlier spot than I'd originally intended, so it may not be too obvious. And that's better for you readers in general, because now I already have the first part of the next chapter. I've been on a roll lately. Once again, I don't think it's even been a month yet. **

**Thank you for reviewing chapter sixteen: **lullabydono **and **lizyeh2000!

**Chapter Seventeen**

For reasons unbeknownst to me, Kakashi continued to keep my secret, even after my less than generous reaction to his help. I didn't receive any sudden summons from the Hokage, I wasn't dragged off by the interrogation unit in the dead of night, and Kakashi returned to the careful distance that had been between us since the night of Naruto's birth.

Which was just as well with me. It took a while for Naruto to return to his usual self. Though I made a point to stop by and see Kei on a regular basis, neither of us suggested another get-together. If Tanjiro had an opinion on the subject, he wasn't forthcoming with it, and I had to wonder if this had happened before. But I wasn't about to force Naruto to come to terms with death so early on. It wasn't exactly something that could be _forced_, period.

But slowly, he seemed to reach some conclusion within himself. The bright smiles returned, as did the impatience for his schoolwork and academy procedures. Life went on. Before we knew it, Naruto had already been in the Academy for a year. I guess shinobi didn't consider this to be a milestone worth much fanfare, but there were some big changes in store for us, celebration or not.

Iruka had been deemed ready to take on a class of his own, and Naruto's first sensei wasn't the only retirement the Academy was facing. This resulted in a general redistribution of all the first—now second—year students. To me, this was a momentous occasion that would affect him for the rest of his life. In five years, this would be the class he graduated with. The people destined to become his closest friends. But for Naruto, this held a more immediate change. Because one of the students transferred into his class was Sasuke Uchiha.

It was hardly as if I'd up and forgotten Sasuke's existence. The matter of Sasuke had just been pushed to the back of my mind amidst more urgent problems. Even anticipating his appearance in Naruto's life, I hadn't thought things got really bad between the two of them until the massacre sent him off the deep end.

This theory was disproven rather abruptly when a ninja from the Academy appeared—very literally, mind you—outside the back door of Chihaya's restaurant, giving him a clear view of the dishwashing station.

"Oh!" one of the serving girls exclaimed softly, almost losing her grip on the stack of plates she'd come to bring me.

"Miss Uzumaki?" the ninja addressed me, a title I still had trouble associating with myself at times. I guessed the man was of Chunin rank; he was too old to be a student. He nodded at me in an almost deferential way, but I thought I could sense annoyance in his controlled expression. "You've received a summons from the Ninja Academy regarding your…"

He trailed off. Clearly the word 'son' had been the next rehearsed bit. Was it my age that made him falter? I certainly would have been young if I'd given birth seven years ago, but—biologically speaking—I _could_ have gotten pregnant at fifteen. If this was enough to fluster him, I couldn't imagine he'd make it far as a ninja. As my mind raced—from surprise to dread—I let the silence linger. At last, I granted his awkwardness a reprieve. "What did he do?"

The man gathered himself and cleared his throat. "He was involved in a fight with a fellow student. Iruka sensei is requesting the presence of a guardian for both parties." Message delivered, the man disappeared in a puff of smoke.

I exhaled, irritated. To be honest, I hadn't been feeling great all morning. Headaches and a tiredness that I usually associated with the onset of the flu. So I wasn't exactly in the mood for a disciplinary school summons, particularly in the middle of the lunch rush.

"I'll be back," I told the serving girl. Unnecessarily—I was free to come and go as I pleased, after all, so long as the work got done. She just nodded politely before hurrying back to her own job.

Outside, I wrung my soapy hands, not caring what got splattered. I considered going home to change—making him wait—but I knew it would only hurt me in the long run. The sooner I got this over with and got back to work, the easier my night would be. So I set off for the academy as I was, work clothes and all, fighting the renewed pounding behind my eyes.

I had yet to see much of Iruka. We'd met briefly a few times as I was picking Naruto up. He'd seemed eager and well-meaning, if inexperienced. In the anime, he'd always been a bit short-tempered as well. I wondered what had set him off this first time.

Indeed, he seemed more nervous than either of the two boys when I arrived. Naruto and Sasuke were seated on the same bench in an empty classroom, arms crossed, glaring in opposite directions. Mikoto Uchiha was already present, standing off to the side with her hands clasped in front of her. She looked just the slightest bit disapproving. Otherwise, Mikoto was her usual serene self, looking impossibly more put-together than I was. I was sure Sasuke would be hearing more about this later. Naruto would not be getting the luxury of waiting until _later_.

Iruka straightened up with a little start when I walked in, clearing his throat. "Good. You're here."

"I am," I answered before he could continue. I strode over to Naruto, who had yet to acknowledge my entrance. He didn't protest as I placed two fingers under his chin and turned his face towards mine. A quick glance at Sasuke made it all too clear who had come out worse in this fight. Naruto had a black eye blooming, and I could see scratches down the back of his neck, disappearing under his t-shirt. If I had to guess, I'd say Sasuke had him on his back in the gravel outside.

"Do I even have to ask what happened?" Naruto's glare instantly softened into something more akin to a pout. But he didn't answer—not even to throw more insults Sasuke's way—and Iruka took this chance to jump back in.

"There was an… altercation during today's taijutsu lesson."

"Which you've reprimanded them for," I cut in again.

"I—yes, of course," Iruka replied, a little flustered.

"And neither of them appear to be seriously hurt." Again, it was not a question.

"Well, no—"

"So, then, is it common practice to interrupt your students' guardians at work to address an issue that you've already handled yourself?" I was walking a pretty thin line, I knew. It would not be unfair to say I was outright abusing Iruka's inexperience and insecurities. Mikoto had brought a hand up to cover what I suspected was a smile, and Naruto wasn't even trying to conceal his smirk. Probably wasn't setting the best example here if I wanted him to respect his teachers. So I placed a hand atop his head and pushed his face down so that his posture at least resembled deference and cleared my throat. "So where are we now? Is he suspended? Detention?"

Iruka cleared his throat too. I wondered if he realized I was trying to do him a favor. "No. I believe a warning will suffice today. Presuming, of course, that it doesn't happen again."

"Oh, don't worry, it won't happen again." I leaned down to bring my face close to Naruto's, rather than let him sit up just yet. "Right?"

"Uh-huh," he said.

I looked back to Iruka. He seemed appeased, if a little confused. Sasuke, too, was giving me an odd look. "Um, all right. Back to class then, you two."

Their classroom was across the hall, being minded by another teacher. Sasuke rose with the smallest of sighs, but I put a hand out before Naruto could charge ahead.

"Wait. You're going to shake his hand first."

Naruto's head snapped towards me with an expression that was somewhere between horror and betrayal. Sasuke looked back as well, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Aw, Sis—" Naruto started, but I cut him off too. I was on a roll today.

"I'm not going to make you apologize. I just want this put to rest. Acknowledge that you've both wronged each other and move on."

He stared me down for a few more minutes, shuffling from foot to foot. At last, apparently realizing that I wasn't budging, Naruto thrust out his hand, eyes glued to the floor. There was absolute stillness for about three seconds.

"Sasuke," Mikoto prodded at last. She did not need to raise her voice to be authoritative. With another nearly inaudible sigh, Sasuke obliged, crossing only as much of the distance as was absolutely necessary to grasp Naruto's hand. The entire time, the boys never made eye contact, and they both quickly pulled their hands back as if burned by the other's touch. But I was pleased, and I thought I saw a sparkle in Mikoto's eye. I wasn't naïve enough to think the trouble between the two would magically dissipate after this, but it was a start.

**…**

I was already outside, on my way back to work when someone cleared their throat softly behind me. I turned to see Mikoto, that thoughtful glint in her eye still present.

"Kani, was it? I don't mean to hold you up. May I walk with you?"

"Uh, yeah, go ahead," I said a little blankly. Something about Mikoto's presence sucked the eloquence right out of me.

She smiled ever so graciously and fell into step beside me. "I appreciate your maturity in there. To be honest, I was wondering if you would turn on Sasuke once you saw Naruto's injuries. And speaking of, I apologize on my son's behalf. This was very out of character for him."

True to form, Mikoto had a way of halting the flow of thought to my brain. It took me a minute to process everything she'd said. It wasn't often that anyone thanked me for being _mature_.

"Sasuke… wasn't mine to scold," I said at last. "Besides, there is no doubt in my mind that Naruto was the instigator."

She gave me another one of her small smiles. Contained, I realized, was the best word for it. "Even so. Sasuke knows better than to lose his temper. Especially now that he's getting to an age where he can do some actual damage."

I couldn't help but smile fondly. "Yeah, well, maybe if Naruto didn't heal so damn fast, he'd learn to stop picking fights. And I don't think you need to worry about Sasuke. They just have this effect on each other. I think they just need some time." Like, a decade's worth of it, but I kept that part to myself.

Mikoto's expression was as smooth as ever, but it was like I could sense the walls coming down. She was purposely opening herself up to me. "You know, before they were born, I hoped they could be friends. I thought I would be disappointed if they didn't get along, but I'm not. You're right. Naruto has an effect on Sasuke that I've never seen. Apart from his brother, Sasuke doesn't really react to anyone. I know he loves me, of course, but it's not the same. It worries me that he can't seem to connect with any of his classmates."

I was quiet for a moment. Our footsteps had slowed. "Maybe he just can't see the value in those connections yet."

"Even so." Mikoto stopped completely now, looking me directly in the eye for the first time. "I suppose I can't help but worry. There is nothing I would not do for my boys. I'm sure you can understand."

The concept of 'nothing' seemed to carry a lot more weight coming from a shinobi—former or otherwise. Every declaration out of a ninja's mouth seemed to come with the implied 'under threat of death' firmly attached. And to some extent, she was right—I would do the same for Naruto, if it came to that. But I scrutinized her expression a little longer, unsure how to respond. And then, very suddenly, I understood a lot better than Mikoto had probably anticipated. A cold feeling swept through me.

Mikoto_ knew_. I doubted the massacre had been officially decided yet, but Mikoto knew where her son's loyalties would lie if the Uchiha were to set their coup d'état into motion. And, even if she was more loyal to her clan than her village, her deepest loyalties would always lie with her children. She would not raise a hand against Itachi. It looked like she was already keeping his secret. Because Fugaku may have suspected, but Mikoto _knew_. In that way, the insurrection really did rely more on Itachi than anyone else. Without his cooperation, their little family would be torn apart long before the entire clan got involved.

In the end, I didn't come up with some brilliant, suitable response. Mikoto's serene mask slid back into place with a smile. We had reached the busy village center. "Well, I suppose this is where we part ways. Thank you again, Kani. I wish you luck with Naruto." And then she was gone, disappearing into the crowd.

**…**

How quickly a regular day turned complicated… My head was spinning for the rest of the day with thoughts of the near future. And the ever-present headache, beating just underneath the surface, wasn't helping any.

I had made my decision years ago to put Naruto first, and I planned to stick by that. I still saw no way to bring the upcoming massacre to light without getting myself locked up, and thus, making Naruto pay the price for that particular justice. Bullied into it or not, the Third Hokage _did_ ultimately approve the mission. And even if I did something crazy and revealed the Uchiha's plans to the general public—_if_ anyone even believed me—who was to say it wouldn't just rush the village into some sort of civil war?

Which left me to wait out the massacre and deal with the consequences. And what were my options at that point? To just let things play out as they would? Well… There was one thing I could do… But the idea felt more insane every time I considered it.

That night was the latest I'd ever spent at the restaurant. I was washing dishes right up until Chihaya was ready to lock the doors. But he didn't make any snide comments about a decline in my efficiency as I scurried out after him, though, so I supposed I should be grateful for little miracles. I really wasn't in the mood for it tonight. And I was even less in the mood for the company I acquired on my walk home.

"You know, Kakashi, I didn't peg you as the stalker type. Not the interactive stalker type, anyway."

"Well, that's funny," he replied in an equally light tone. He hadn't even bothered to stick to the shadows tonight, instead coming right up to walk beside me. "I didn't peg _you_ as the type to break promises."

Oh, good, a guilt trip. That was just what I needed right now. "I don't remember being any more specific than _someday_. I would think a ninja as accomplished as yourself would be able to compartmentalize well enough to put it out of your mind."

His smile looked just a tad bit threatening underneath his mask. "I assure you, my skills as a ninja are just where they should be. But it is a little difficult to move past one of the most defining nights of my life without a proper explanation."

I ran a hand down one side of my face wearily. "You already have an explanation for the part that should matter to you."

"Meaning?"

"Your sensei is dead because Kushina lost control of the Nine Tails inside of her during childbirth. Minato died a hero, sealing it into Naruto and saving the village. End of story. All I'm concerned with is Naruto's wellbeing." Well, there was a little more to it than that, but I couldn't explain that part to Kakashi just yet.

"And I believe that." His voice had softened a bit. "But that's _not_ the whole story. You still haven't been able to explain your knowledge of the situation. Knowledge I don't believe Minato or Kushina would have shared with you. And I have to live with knowing that if I'm wrong about your intentions, every day you spend in this village makes you more of a potential liability later down the road."

"But you don't think you're wrong," I pointed out.

"No, my intuition is usually pretty spot-on."

"Then where does that leave us?" Even if I had been ready to tell him everything, tonight would not be the night for it.

"I guess that leaves me to continue keeping watch over you until I get my answers."

"Keeping watch," I grumbled. "Is that what we're calling it?"

We'd reached my apartment. Kakashi didn't move to follow me as I started to climb the stairs. I didn't care that he remained where he was, watching. He could stand outside all night if he so pleased. I was exhausted.

But I was immediately alert once I got inside. There was just something obvious about emptiness. A silence that was too complete. Though I did seem to catch Kakashi off-guard when I charged back out. A feat I would have taken more pride in if I had not had more pressing matters on my mind. Naruto was gone.

**Review please!**

**I don't own Naruto. **

**There was originally going to be more to this chapter, but… What can I say? There's something just fitting about cliffhangers. Where I was going to end it just didn't have the same final ring to it. **


	19. Chapter Eighteen

**What are the chances? For once, I was on top of things and other forces decided to delay this update. AKA, we got hit by a storm. It didn't even seem that bad to me, but it was enough to knock our internet out for two days… Anyway, we are back on track now.**

**Pretty consistently, you guys have predicted my plans for this story. I couldn't resist the cliffhanger on the end of the last one, but some of you saw right through me. (I was kind of pleased, actually.) This chapter does revolve, mostly, around the 3-episode filler arc **_**Iruka's Ordeal.**_** This story is going to be long enough without including all the filler, but this one felt important to me. Any others… well, there are none planned right now, but I'll guess we'll see when the time comes.**

**Thank you for reviewing chapter seventeen: **DarkDust27 **and **jinxedpixie. **And thank you for reviewing chapter one: **bob115

**Chapter Eighteen**

"What? What is it?" Kakashi demanded as I took the steps three at a time to get back to street level.

"Naruto's not here," I answered him automatically, but in truth, I barely registered his company anymore. My vision had tunneled with my panic, and I was struggling to organize my racing mind. To the extent of my knowledge, Naruto had never taken advantage of my long work hours to stay out late before. Though I supposed if he'd gotten away with it in the past, I wouldn't know. I was hoping against hope now that he had simply lost track of time and would come rushing in our direction any second.

Kakashi was easily keeping pace with me as I strode back towards the village center, showing just enough restraint not to break into a run. "Can you think of anywhere he might have gone? Just try to—"

"Kakashi, if you tell me not to worry about my seven-year-old out at night in a village where everyone hates him, we're going to have a problem." My voice was oddly steady as I cut him off. He wisely remained silent as my frantic brainstorming continued. I suddenly wished I'd payed more attention to all the filler episodes that took place in the characters' academy days. Who knew which bits had actually happened?

Suddenly, mercifully, my memory lighted on something relevant. Hadn't there been a few episodes devoted to Iruka's first days as a teacher? Right… And it had all come to a head during—

I stopped abruptly and whispered, "Of course. The test of courage…"

Kakashi cocked his head the slightest bit, but didn't question me openly. He didn't have to. I'd already turned to him. "Which way's the graveyard?"

Later, I would be grateful that Kakashi apparently seemed resigned to putting his questions on hold. (Perhaps our walk home had done some good after all.) But for now, I was as single-minded as could be. I let Kakashi guide me in the right direction, trying to remember anything else that might be of importance—and hoping I was right.

My hopes were confirmed when three other young boys sprinted past us, still screaming. The entrance to the cemetery was in sight.

"What was that about?" Kakashi wondered, staring after the three kids.

"Thanks, Kakashi," I replied instead. "You probably don't want to stick around for the next part."

"Why? What's the next part?" Poor Kakashi just looked confused. I really should start treating him better… Oh well. Another thought to be catalogued for 'later'.

For now, I just smiled at him a little grimly. "Parenting."

**…**

I wasn't in so much of a rush now. As I walked towards the cemetery gates, a familiar, distraught voice drifted out to me. And the words cut a permanent wound into my heart.

"Why does everybody look at me like that all of the time? I'm not just a nuisance or some kind of germ; I'm a person too! I am! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and don't forget it!"

I didn't go any further inside. I didn't have long to wait before he came rocketing out and straight into my arms. It took him a second to realize who had caught him, and when he did, the tears overflowed. For a moment, it was all I could do to hold him upright. He could barely get the words out around the sobs.

"I quit! I'm done with being a ninja! I'm never going back to the Academy again!"

"Naruto…"

"You said!" he interjected forcefully. "Sis, you said I didn't have to be a ninja if I didn't want to."

I had said that once, hadn't I? It was so much harder when you had to reason against yourself.

"I did," I confirmed calmly. "As long as you're making this decision for the right reasons."

He pulled back then, tears still streaming freely down his face. The look in his eyes was defiant… and heartbreaking. "Yeah? Well, what are the right reasons, then?"

"How about I tell you some of the wrong reasons?" Gah, it was so hard to reason with him when his lip was quivering like that. "Quitting in the heat of the moment because of something someone did or said is generally a bad idea. Quitting because you're having a hard time making friends or learning the material… Also a bad idea. Trying to give up on the village that's already given up on you… Bad idea. And also kind of pointless, if you take the time to think about it. Am I getting close?"

Naruto averted his eyes. I knew I'd hit his reasoning right on the head. This may have come out of an emotional moment, but I knew it had been building up for a long time. However… Though I could hardly blame his thinking, if I let him go through with this, I knew he would regret it later.

"How's this?" I proposed, wiping a thumb under each of his eyes. "Take tomorrow off. I think you and Iruka could use a break from each other. And then, when your head's a bit clearer, we'll talk it over again, okay?"

He sniffed. "Kay."

I straightened up, untying the cape he'd fixed around his collar. He willingly took my hand as we started home. I almost left it at that. But I couldn't help feeling my job was incomplete. I started again. "About Iruka…"

He looked up at me curiously. I sighed, unsure how much to reveal.

"Just… don't be too hard on him, okay? He may have been given some bad information."

"Bad information?"

"He… may be under the impression that the best way to deal with a problem is to ignore it."

He seemed to understand immediately, and his eyes were impossibly sad. "But he doesn't ignore anyone else when they cause trouble. Only me."

"I'm going to talk to him," I assured him. "But in the meantime, maybe you should try getting his attention in a different way."

"What do you mean?"

"Like… Have you considered _not_ being the loudest voice in the room? Maybe the problem is that you're_ too_ easy to interact with. Make him come to you."

"Hmm." He seemed to consider this, and I called it a respectable parenting job for the night.

**…**

"Sis… Hey, sis…"

I awoke the next morning to Naruto poking my cheek. Sunlight was already streaming through my window, and I congratulated myself on thinking to give Naruto the day off. One less responsibility to worry about. Somehow, I felt even worse than I had the day before. My head ached—albeit to a different beat than the rest of my muscles. The last time I'd felt this horrid had been in my first life—during one of my many trips to the hospital, wondering if this would be the last time.

To be honest, the thought freaked me out a bit. It was enough to get me up and moving. That wasn't the sort of state I wanted Naruto to see me in. Though it would take some maneuvering. He remained at the side of my bed, giving me an odd look.

"Hey, are you okay? You never oversleep."

"Well, maybe I wouldn't have if _someone_ hadn't kept me up half the night, pulling some crazy prank." I managed to keep my voice reasonably smooth, and he seemed to buy it.

"Do you gotta work today?"

"Well, I'm supposed to," I answered honestly. "I've got a few errands I may run instead, though. What are _you_ going to do today?"

It seemed he hadn't thought of that. He considered for a moment. "I dunno. Train, I guess."

I didn't feel the need to mention that he had no real reason to keep up with his training if he was quitting the academy. "Sounds good."

I made to get out of bed and then stopped, remembering something else. "Don't do anything stupid today, all right?"

"Okay?" He drew out the word, eying me like I'd officially gone insane. Apparently, this would require more than just a blanket warning.

"Like… should you run into any of your classmates today… If they were to, I don't know, try to get you to go loot an enemy ninja's corpse for treasure out in some secluded part of the woods… _That_ would be very stupid."

He continued to stare at me long after I was done. At last, he said, "You know, sis, you're kinda weird sometimes." And left it at that.

**…**

As I walked through the village, the sun beating overhead, I struggled to recall my dream the night before. I'd started to put a lot more faith in things like cryptic dreams since being reincarnated into a fantasy world. And that reappearance I was expecting from Angie still had yet to happen. So I was a little on edge these days when it came to potential cosmic warnings. But all I could remember from the night before was total darkness. I'd been aware of the darkness, though, so it wasn't quite the same as a night without dreaming…

I sighed and shook my head to push the thoughts aside for now. I'd arrived at an apartment building. I was saved from having to go door to door by a window opening overhead. A familiar smiling face peered out at me. "Is that you, Kani?"

"Could you come down for a minute?" I called back to Daisuke. "I have a favor to ask."

"Uh, yeah, sure." In just a few seconds he had run down to street level. I'd gotten lucky. The civilian school had some sort of holiday this week. And I was counting on Daisuke's near idolatry of Chihaya. "What's up?"

"I know this is last minute, but do you think you could take my shift at the restaurant today? Something came up with my kid's school, and I'd like to sort this mess out sooner rather than later."

"Yeah, of course." You had to love the good-hearted, innocent ones. "It's not like I've got other plans."

"Thanks." I turned to move on to my next 'errand'.

"Hey, uh, Kani?" I looked back and Daisuke smiled at me. "Get some rest, okay? You look awful."

So I must have been doing a worse job of masking it than I thought. It was true; my head was still pounding, and the bright sunlight wasn't helping any. But I grinned back at him. "I've got a seven-year-old at home. I'll rest in about eleven years. If I'm lucky."

He laughed, though the joke was all too real for me, and let me go. I headed in the direction of the academy then. There were a few things I needed to say to Iruka. Not for the first time, I wondered if my presence in Naruto's life wasn't doing as much harm as healing. How many bonds would be lost or irreparably altered because of the one he had with me? Would Iruka still be able to connect with him now that he wasn't completely alone? I needed to make sure he did.

I'd arrived at the academy. Their errand boy was posted out front, standing guard.

"Hi, remember me?" My tone was just a little too cheerful. "I need to talk to Iruka."

To his credit, the guard remained stony-faced this time. "Class is in session. The teachers are all busy at the moment. You can leave a message with me."

My 'message' wasn't the sort that could be left with an answering machine. I did my best to remain perfectly civil and unruffled. "Why don't you ask him? I bet he'd make time to see me."

The man sighed. So easy to bend… At least he made a show of staying firm. "Stay here."

He was back just a minute later, looking beyond irritated. "There's an empty classroom about a third of the way down the hall. Be brief."

I contained my gloating and slipped past him. The empty room was easy enough to find, and Iruka was already waiting for me inside. He looked nervous, which I'd come to associate with his new normal, but he made an effort to appear in control, cutting right to the chase.

"I noticed Naruto wasn't in class this morning. Is everything all right?"

I had to remind myself I was here to make nice with Iruka, a thought that made me groan. I was not cut out for diplomacy, but I'd give it my best shot. "Last night was kind of rough for everyone. I let Naruto take the day off. Last night, he didn't want to come back at all."

I let that sink in. It was clear from Iruka's expression that he was already regretting the scene in the graveyard—and probably a lot more. "Look, I think Naruto and I got off on the wrong foot…"

_Gee, you think?_ Aloud, I said, "I know. And I know your parents died in the attack seven years ago. In a way, so did mine. So, believe me, I remember how awful that night was, too. You know who doesn't?"

"Naruto," he murmured, though it had been sort of rhetorical. I had the odd sensation of a role reversal—like I was the teacher now.

"Right. And yet he's also the one who has to bear the brunt of everyone else's bad memories. If I could force them all to open their eyes—realize their anger is misplaced—I would. But I know no one would listen. They don't owe him anything. Not like us."

"Us?"

I met Iruka's eyes head-on. He looked pitifully lost. "It's true; our responsibilities aren't exactly the same. But you _are_ responsible for him now. You agreed to be his teacher. And I'd appreciate it if you started acting the part."

His remorseful look solidified into a determined one. "You're right. I know I've wronged him. I swear, I'm going to do better from here on out."

"Thanks, but I'm not really the one who needs to hear it." I turned to go, but something made me pause. Maybe it was just the knowledge that Iruka could use all the hints he could get. "You know, all the pranks and desperate attempts to get your attention would probably die down if you just treat him like any other student. As long as you ignore him, he's going to feel the need to overcompensate. Treat him like you would any other troublemaker; he'll be sleeping through your classes in no time."

Iruka's laugh sounded polite, like he wasn't quite sure he got the joke. I left it at that. He'd find out soon enough that I wasn't joking.

**…**

The apartment was mercifully empty when I returned. I couldn't even bring myself to worry about where Naruto had gone. I was at my limit, totally exhausted. I collapsed onto the bed, figuring if my headache wasn't gone by the time I woke up, I might just have to see a doctor for the first time in seven years.

I fell asleep almost immediately, but it wasn't quite the reprieve I'd been hoping for. The darkness was back, along with a sucking feeling. This time, I let it pull me in. Wherever my consciousness wanted to take me, I would go. Fine. I was ready to face whatever was coming.

Slowly, the darkness began to recede. Not completely. It hovered around the edges of this little pocket of… not light, exactly. Rather, this area was simply dim instead of full-on dark. But it was bright enough to make out what was blocking my way.

A set of bars, like out of a jail cell. As I waited there, a small figure drew closer, hovering at eye level. I recognized Angie at once—after all, I only had so many cherub angels floating around in my consciousness—but something about her expression made me take a second look, just to be sure. Gone was her cheerful expression and general air of naiveté. This was an Angie I'd never seen before. There was a serious glint in her eyes, and her voice was direct and subdued, not as high-pitched as I was used to.

"Connie. I've been trying to get in touch with you for a while. Sorry for the headaches."

I decided not to call her out on the drastic tone change. "I've been expecting you for a while."

"I know. I've had to pull back at the last second more than once. My superiors have forbidden any further contact."

It looked like my ignorance of the workings of the otherworldly had reached its end. Angie had my full attention now. "Forbidden?"

Her grimace held shadows of the sheepish smiles I'd seen on her in the past. "Here's the thing. I haven't been entirely honest with you. Guardian angels are… sentries. We 'guard' from afar. And we do have some power to ward off bad luck… But our contact with the ones we guard… It's all supposed to be indirect. What I'm trying to say is… Guardian angels don't have any authority over reincarnation."

I was silent for a long moment. Every time I thought we'd put this mess to rest, Angie appeared with some new way to stir things up. I could feel the familiar irritation she was so often the target of welling up once again. "Are you still trying to give me excuses for why it didn't turn out the way it was supposed to? Why does it even matter anymore? Can't we both agree to just drop it?"

"No!" Her voice had lowered even further. "Listen, Connie, we don't have a lot of time. You need to understand, this is a lot bigger than a fluke on the part of some clumsy, inexperienced guard. The higher-ups don't take kindly to those who mess with fate."

"Fate?" I repeated. "What are you _talking_ about? You once told me that you intervened because it was my wish to be reincarnated. Are you saying you have some other motive?"

She licked her lips nervously, glancing from side to side. "See, the thing is… It was never really about you. And I swear I'll explain it to you someday, but right now, we're running out of time! There are bad things in store for this world, and I need your help."

"Mine?" I was barely keeping up here with her not-quite explanations.

"Yes, you've placed yourself conveniently at the center of it. This is better than I could have hoped, actually. I wasn't sure you were the best person for the job at first, but we were running out of time. I wanted to make sure you were planted before the Nine Tails' attack. I had my eye on a few other charges, but they were all reasonably healthy. I didn't have the kind of power needed to get them ready for 'reincarnation' in time. …Connie?"

I didn't even try to keep the rage from twisting my features. _Planted_. Like some sort of insurgent. This whole time, Angie had had some sort of agenda. I suddenly understood why so many people snapped upon learning they were being used.

A more logical part of my brain reminded me that I probably should have been expecting something like this. This reincarnation business… Successful or not, it should have seemed suspicious from the beginning. What had I done in my past life to deserve divine favors? I was nothing special. Just some bratty kid who happened to by dying at the right time, apparently.

Even so, there was a part of me that was hurt my own guardian angel hadn't even put me first.

"So if I was supposed to be_ planted_ right in the middle of the story this whole time, what was all that shit about trying to restore me to my old life? I almost died! Again! What, did one of those 'other charges' you had your eye on die early after all? Did you think they'd make a better agent?" I seethed.

"No." It did not ease my anger any to hear the impatience in her voice. "That wasn't me. I had to tell you it was, while they were watching, but that's the other thing."

"_What_ other thing?"

"Listen," she said, her voice urgent again. "When my superiors realized what I'd done, they tried to set things right. I was just able to convince them that killing you would go against our own laws. Only the deities governing Life and Death have authority over… well, life and death. One is absolute until the other decides to take over. And Death won't interfere with a reincarnation. Those two have to bargain over rights to start and end dates all the time, but once it's set, it's set. Ending _any_ life prematurely could start a serious conflict with Life that no one wants to deal with." She shuddered.

My head was spinning. This was too much. "So why even tell me? It sounds like you've got things straightened out."

Some death god wasn't going to kill me on a whim, even though I technically shouldn't exist. That was all I really cared about. But Angie shook her head vehemently.

"Because! Don't you see? My bosses don't realize the rest of it. They think I'm just some overzealous guardian angel who wants to be more important than she actually is. Officially speaking, you're the victim here. _Which means they owe you something_. And they've gone and locked me away because they don't want you to find out!"

So, if Angie _wasn't_ just some overzealous lackey, what _was_ the rest of it? I didn't get a chance to ask. A light flashed then, briefly blinding us both. I didn't have to understand the rest of it to know what this meant. Whoever Angie was hiding from had found us. Our time was up.

"Crap! Connie, hold on to your favor. You're going to need it."

And with that, I was gone, propelled back out of our little meeting space. As if even my own mind could only tolerate my presence for so long.

**Review please!**

**I don't own Naruto. **

**Is that… the plot I see? Like, an overarching plot to this story? Okay, I'll tell you now that it's still going to be a while before we see Angie again so she can explain everything, but I wanted to at least give Connie a certain awareness that something else was in store. You know, apart from the shit storm from the canon plot that she's already braced for. **


	20. Chapter Nineteen

**Summer 'vacation' has so far been one stressful wifi conflict after another. Of all the times for our internet to start having problems… Of course it would be once I'm home most of the day to actually want to use it.**

**Thank you, **Crocodile**, for reviewing chapter ten! If you make it just a few more chapters in, I've addressed your concerns (to the extent that I'm going to) in chapter thirteen or fourteen. Thanks again!**

**And lastly, you'll notice a POV switch at the start of the chapter. I wanted to experiment a bit with possibly not telling the story entirely from Connie's point of view. There were a few scenes later on where I'm worried her narration won't be able to cover everything… I guess we'll see.**

**Chapter Nineteen**

Naruto wasn't sure what he was doing, perched on a branch above the schoolyard when he'd been granted a day off. He'd lost track of the number of times he'd led his teachers on wild chases through the village, looking for a reprieve from the hours of lectures. But now that he didn't_ have_ to be here… he found he didn't really have anywhere else to be.

The swing creaked below him, swaying in the breeze, but that was the only sound. The schoolyard was empty but for him. The lunch recess had ended about an hour ago, and his classmates had all returned to class. He could see them now, through the window. Iruka stood at the front of the room, gesturing to something behind him on the chalkboard. Most of the students appeared slumped in their seats, their eyes glazed over. One or two—Sakura amongst them—were attentive and taking notes.

Naruto sighed and turned away. He thought Iruka had spotted him earlier, but he hadn't made a scene about one of his students skipping class just to hang out in the schoolyard. Kani had briefly shown up at the school too, but Naruto hadn't tried to get her attention either. She had said she was going to talk to his teacher, but for once, the ever-curious Naruto was perfectly happy not knowing what had transpired in that room.

He loved his sister—she was the only family he had ever known—but she could be a little pushy sometimes. He didn't want a bodyguard; how was he supposed to get anyone's respect if he couldn't show them he was capable of solving his own problems?

On that note, he jumped down from the tree and began walking towards the entrance. He knew there were guards stationed in various places around the school—or at least various people who could easily sense his presence. But they must have been ignoring him as completely as his teachers. It was uncanny. When he wasn't causing trouble, it was as if he didn't exist at all.

Without really thinking about it, Naruto headed home. It was almost time for the academy to let out anyway. And Kani had said she was taking today off from work. It was so rare for them both to have free time these days. Maybe they could go do something.

The thought brought a smile to his face as he pushed open the door to their apartment. But inside, everything was quiet. None of the lights were on. The sun was shining outside, but their apartment had so few windows that inside it was quiet dim.

Naruto let the door swing shut behind him with a loud click and snapped on the hall light as he went, calling, "Sis?"

There was no answer, but he continued through the apartment until he reached his sister's bedroom. He pushed that door open a little more gently. It wasn't like he'd ever been unwelcome in Kani's room. They weren't exactly a formal or traditional family. And it wasn't like there was enough room in their tiny apartment for true personal space. But he felt a strange uneasiness. Almost like he was intruding on something he wasn't supposed to see. So he took it slow.

His initial reaction was relief when he stepped into the room and found her asleep in bed. She was just sleeping. Sure it was an odd time of day to be asleep, but he had thought she looked a little weird this morning. Maybe she was working too much. It certainly seemed that way to him.

"Sis?" he said again. Still no response. So he came closer and shook her a little. Louder, he called, "Kani!"

The uneasiness returned when he still received no response. Was she sicker than he'd thought? Was she not sleeping after all? Rather, comatose? Her breathing was even. She didn't look particularly pale or feverish. But he wasn't a doctor. And he'd never been seriously ill himself. Would he be able to tell if someone else was?

Panic was starting to truly set in now. Who could he go to? Who would want to help _him_? Who would stop to listen long enough to hear that it was for someone else's sake? Even then, would anyone care?

Iruka. An image of his sensei popped into his head like a light bulb. They were still on shaky terms, but he wouldn't just brush him off, right? And he'd met with Kani earlier that day. Maybe he'd know if she'd gotten worse since this morning.

Just as he was about to rush back out, he heard her breathing stutter. Naruto turned back anxiously and watched as her breathing evened out again and her eyes slowly opened. For a moment, she stared blankly at the ceiling, and he exclaimed, "Kani!"

His voice seemed to wake her more completely. Kani sat up, briefly brought a hand to her head, and blinked rapidly as she finally responded, "Naruto?"

"You're awake!" The relief in his voice could not have been more evident.

"Yeah… Sorry. How long have you been home?"

"Just a few minutes." Had he perhaps let his mind exaggerate her near-comatose state? She looked so normal now. Not even kind of sick like she had this morning.

"What did you do today?" She moved to get out of bed. Her expression was a little distracted and troubled, but she appeared to be listening.

"Nothin'," he answered, fairly truthfully when reflecting back on his day. "…I'm gonna go back to school tomorrow."

Kani seemed to shake off whatever was troubling her. Her smile was genuine. "Good. I talked to Iruka today. I think things are going to get better from here on out. Just remember, it'll take work on both of your parts."

"Yeah…"

Kani turned to the window to analyze the sunlight. "What time is it?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. Late afternoon. Can we go to Ichiraku for dinner?"

She grinned, and he cheered internally. It was a frequent request, and he knew when victory was his. "Sure. Why not?"

**…**

The next day was my day off. Which felt a little ironic, given that I'd taken the previous day off as well. Not that yesterday had been much of a break.

My mind was still reeling. As if I needed something else to worry about. My betrayal at Angie had quickly morphed into an all-encompassing anxiety. I knew of a lot of awful things that were going to befall this world and the people in this world. And there wasn't much I could do about most of those things. Knowledge may have been power, but that power was far from absolute. But at least those events had a feeling of solidity to them. I had no idea how to even begin to approach this incorporeal world of guardian angels and gods and the laws of reincarnation that I'd become entangled in.

So I was glad it had been so easy to convince Naruto to return to school. I had my own studying to do now and no way to explain a sudden interest in the subject. I decided to do some good old-fashioned research. I'd only briefly spent time in Konoha's main library—back when I'd first started teaching myself the language. So being here now, with the ability to actually read anything I deigned to check out, was like seeing the place with new eyes.

There were three stories—the basement, the ground level, and a second floor that was so open it felt more like a balcony with a bridge connecting the two sides of the room than a proper floor. It was beautiful, in a way. That uppermost section housed all the fiction stories. Perfectly fitting for the almost whimsical design of the place. I had never been anywhere but the ground floor, and it turned out that wouldn't be changing today. My theories were muddled enough without factoring in ideas that were considered fictional even in this world. And the research material on the basement level, I soon found out, wasn't open to the general public. In the hours I spent on the ground level, I only saw shinobi being allowed down those steps, and it actually eased my mind a bit to know that whatever they were researching probably wasn't going to be of much use to me either.

So I found myself gravitating towards the religious section of the library. I'd never been a very spiritual person, but I liked stories. I'd read enough _Percy Jackson_ to know that the Greeks had believed reincarnation was something of an honor, not granted to just anybody. Once your soul passed through Judgment, if you ended up in their version of heaven, you could choose to be reincarnated. And if you somehow miraculously made it to Greek heaven three times in a row—despite having no recollection of your previous lives—you were allowed into a sort of ultra-heaven. I found versions of that belief, or similar ones, in the Konoha library, albeit under different names.

But much more often, I saw the concept of reincarnation being discussed as something more akin to a punishment. In these stories I found a common core belief that each soul had a lesson that needed to be learned over the course of its lifetime. And if the person died before learning this lesson—which was different and specific to each soul—they were sent back to the world of the living. Potentially over and over again until they got it right.

And then, of course, there were the sects that believed in reincarnation but didn't view it as much of an event. It was just the next step. Everyone's souls were just bundles of energy to be recycled over and over again—in one form or another—until the end of time.

After hours of searching through material that was all perfectly interesting but didn't feel terribly relevant, I decided that maybe reincarnation was the wrong place to start. Maybe the reincarnation itself had been irrelevant. Angie had said it had been an interference on her part, not part of the original plans for my soul. So I switched my focus to more divine studies.

One entity in particular—the Shinigami—had been the subject of more research than any other. They were death gods—gods plural, because in no account did I see them referred to as the sort of singular, all-powerful deity in charge of all souls and all death that Angie had been referring to. And technically, the Shinigami's role was most often interpreted as 'one who invites death.' Not a name that inspired much power. Even harder to find was any mention of this god's counterpart—the god of life.

In fact, I only ever found one passing mention of a deity called the Izanagi-no-Mikoto, husband to the more popular _Izanami_-no-Mikoto, who was—you guessed it—a god of death. It was pretty clear where society's interests lay. But even her myths didn't line up particularly well with what I had discerned from my most recent vague interaction with Angie. Izanami was portrayed as more of a victim than anything. Like the Greek Persephone, trapped in the underworld because she ate forbidden something-or-other. Apples, pomegranates, I'd started to lose track.

At any rate, I quickly reached the same conclusion I had before. It was all perfectly interesting, (especially in regards to this world; did the Uchiha name _all_ of their techniques after divine beings?) but not of much use to me. Maybe I was wasting my time here. Maybe none of the researchers had ever gotten it exactly right. In fact, if my memory of the later Shippuden episodes still held, there were a lot of quotes from reanimated shinobi that seemed to support that _nothing_ came after death. Had these gods I couldn't find any information on been running interference on the other side when all of that had gone down? Were there safeguards in place to make sure no one who came back from the dead could expose them? Was this a big enough problem for there to be procedures for that sort of thing?

Abruptly, I pushed the mountain of books away from me and slumped forward over the table, fingertips at each of my temples. I closed my eyes, trying to block everything out, glad for the natural quietude of the library. Maybe I just needed to think this through.

Okay, so according to Angie, there were two gods. One with total jurisdiction over the living and the other with total jurisdiction over the dead. Apparently, the only time they really interacted was when they were bargaining over the deadlines for each soul passing from one jurisdiction to the other. (It was funny to think that Neji may have been right about fate. Was everyone's end planned out from day one?) And apparently there were guardian angels who were meant to watch over souls who were… in danger of meeting some unplanned end? Angie hadn't been too clear on what her job was supposed to be. And then was there another separate entity in charge of reincarnation? Because some of the things in our brief conversation I couldn't even begin to make sense of.

Angie had said the god of death wouldn't interfere with a reincarnation. But was that only once the soul had been reincarnated? Was once again amongst the living? Because if any power should be shared by both Life and Death, it would be reincarnation. Otherworldly bullshit aside, there were two requirements for a reincarnation: a death and a subsequent return to life. And perhaps the third party existed solely for the purpose of making sure all those other laws I didn't know about were followed to the letter. Kept the politics in check while the real powers did their jobs.

My sigh was nearly a groan. I wasn't getting anywhere. I reopened my eyes when I heard a soft giggle to my left. It took a moment to find the source around the piles of books stacked up around me, but I finally spotted one of the young library assistants straightening the shelves a foot or so away. When she saw me looking, she smiled gently.

"You're not the first person I've seen hunker down in the religion section, trying to find answers to the meaning of life… Or the afterlife. Or whatever. After a while, they all start to look frustrated like that." She pointed cheerfully to the look on my face. She struck me as a very bubbly person, better suited to work in customer service somewhere than the quiet work of stocking library shelves. She gestured to one of the many books I had piled up on my table. "May I?"

I sighed and pushed it her way. "Yeah. Sure." My brain was just about fried anyway.

The girl began sorting and replacing my stash with equally good cheer. She went on, "I once tried to read every book in this building. Didn't get very far. This section in particular can be pretty dense. Contradictory too."

I saw a few people from nearby tables glance over as her rambling continued. I had to smile, and I got up to help. The girl was probably sixteen or seventeen. Not that far in age from myself, but she felt very young. And she'd succeeded in lightening my mood at least. So I asked, "What did you decide?"

Her expression was pleasantly quizzical.

I gestured to the books we were putting away. "About all this. Gods and demons and the afterlife. What do _you_ think happens when you die?"

"I don't know… It's nice to think that there's something waiting for us after all this." She gestured around us. "I guess I decided to just wait and see."

"That sounds… simple." I nodded and tried not to sound rude. The assistant girl didn't seem to mind. We'd reshelved the last book and both started walking towards the front desk—just one stop along the way to the front door for me. But a familiar voice made me stop halfway there.

"Yui,_ slow down_." The voice was dropped to a whisper, and it took a moment for me to locate it. Overhead.

Chihaya. The sight of my impatient boss outside his restaurant setting brought me up short. He was on the bridge connecting the two halves of the upper level, gesturing for a little red-haired girl with pigtails to return to his side. As if my day hadn't been strange enough. I couldn't seem to connect the image in my mind with an explanation that made sense.

The assistant had stopped with me, and she giggled at the sight before waving to the little girl. Chihaya spotted me then and waved stoically. I waved awkwardly back, and the two moved on.

"You know Chihaya?" the library girl asked pleasantly. "He comes here with his daughter on all of his days off. Yui's so energetic. She likes the 'choose your own adventure' stories."

"I didn't know he took any days off." So Chihaya had a kid. She looked to be about five. What an odd thing to have in common. Perhaps he would have understood my need for a day off after all. It was hard to picture him as anything other than the ambitious restauranteur, but maybe that was the true lesson to be learned here. Nothing was ever as simple as it seemed. Maybe the only option you ever had was just to be along for the ride.

**Review please!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I've been trying not to be too egregious with the time skips. I don't want this story to be entirely narration. I want to be able to show their life together as well as introduce some of the plot points that will be important later on. Unfortunately, I feel like in keeping a somewhat even pace, this story has become very slow in places… Well, you're in for another big change starting with the next chapter. Until then, thank you for reading!**


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